Jak and Daxter: Timorous
Yes yes I'm sure that there's a million and one 'Jak get's patched up after the water slums mission' fic's out there. But I wanted to write my own. ^_^ (because I bunny-ed myself while writing something else oops.)
Title: Timorous Rating: Teen for blood. Charcaters: Jak,Daxter,Torn Pairings: None unless you want to see them. Word count: 2918
Jak felt solid ground under his feet instead of creaking wooden paths, they were finally out of the water slums. He felt Daxter shivering against his neck.
“Relax bud.” Jak said as he kept running. Gun shots still raining around them.
“Relax?” Daxter hissed. “Relax! We’ve got a hundred of the Krimson Goon Squad after us and you want me to relax!”
“Yeah.” Jak grinned. “Now that we’re out of the water slums we can hide until the heat cools off, or maybe steal a zoomer and crash it into them.”
“Haven’t we had enough mayhem and destruction for one d-”
The gunshots stopped.
There was a shoulder guard on the ground.
It was splattered with blood.
There were foot steps coming closer, a lot of foot steps.
He pulled himself to his feet and flexed his claws.
They were all going to die.
It wasn’t until three of the guard were dead that he felt something climb up his leg and back. The climb look longer and felt more awkward than normal, he didn’t like that, he liked it less when the tugging started on his ear,
He growled at Daxter as he charged at another guard, snatching his gun off him and snapping it in half before snapping the guard's neck.
Still Daxter was tugging and yelling at his ear. Usually Daxter only growled at the guards with him. Growling to protect him, or to back him up cocky in the knowledge that he wouldn’t let anything happen to Daxter, he didn’t know.
Just like he didn’t know why Daxter was making those distinctly unhappy, afraid noises, like Daxter did back in the prison.
He didn’t like to think of that, Daxter should not be scared of him.
His anger grew and two more guards fell at his claws.
There were more than he could count waiting behind them.
Daxter had now left his armour-less, bleeding shoulder and was on top if his head, tugging at his horns.
He tossed his head with a confused growl. What was Daxter doing! He had to stop the guard before they could hurt him, before they could hurt Daxter. Before -
He snarled.
No. He would not allow the guard to take them back to the prison.
four more fell from his claws one landing with a splash in the water, all the while Daxter was still screaming at him.
There was shot from one of the guards that had been out of his reach, it hit his horn and he staggered back from the pain, he didn’t notice the guards freeze in shock.
Daxter was silent. Daxter was never silent. Daxter was always growling or yelling to endlessly talking letting him know when it was safe to relax, safe to let go, safe to be…him again.
But Daxter wasn’t doing any of this, Daxter was –
Suddenly yelling again, twice as loud, and twice as shrill as before.
He snarled at the guards, they had made Daxter silent. He couldn’t allow that to happen again.
The wooden path broke under his punch, the waves of eco that flowed from him knocked the guards down, dead, out cold, or in the water he didn’t care.
He turned and ran.
Daxter kept yelling, but it was no longer quite so shrill. This was good.
But they needed to hide until Daxter stopped yelling and started talking. He was in pain and he didn’t know how to fix it like this. He knew he needed green eco but couldn’t remember where to get it.
He didn’t stop running despite the pain, Growling as Daxter would occasionally tug on his horns on ears. He much preferred Daxter on his shoulder…
Daxter would be happy at the place by the other big water, with The One That’s Big and the One That Was Daxter’s. But he didn’t trust The One That Was Biggest.
He couldn’t go to The One That Offered Power either. He remembered spending the night there once listening to the rain. But he couldn’t go back to the dirty big water, there would still be guards.
And he didn’t want to see any big water again, not for a long time.
The One That Always Smelled Of Fear was closer, but he’d been shot at enough.
That’s just left The One That Growls and The Green One Who Was Wrong. Daxter wouldn’t like it, but it was safe and close and…
…it was where Daxter had been steering him with all those tugs.
*****
When he had heard Daxter yelling at him though Jak’s communicator Torn couldn’t believe his ears.
“We can’t evacuate just because Jak’s in a bad mood.”
“He’s in more than a bad mood tonsillitis!” Daxter had yelled back. “I’ve never seen him like this before. This time he’s really gone off the deep end! He’s hurt and I don’t think he even knows his own name right now. So just get everyone out of there so I can try and calm him down once he’s safe alright!”
*****
The door was already open. He paused. The door wasn’t usually open, and there was a lot of people smells to, there shouldn’t be to many people at the entrance at the same time, he hung back, something wasn’t right.
Daxter wasn’t yelling, but he didn’t sound like it was safe yet. He hovered, unsure. He didn’t like threats that he couldn’t see and attack.
Daxter was pushing on his horns, but he was wise to that trick now and refused to move.
Daxter yelled at him, and jumped off his shoulder.
Daxter was leaving?
Daxter looked at him confused. Sighed and muttered as he limped though the door.
No.
With a growl he threw himself at Daxter, he couldn’t leave, not again, if he left him again the guard would catch him again.
Daxter jumped out of his grasp and further into The One That Growls’ den.
He tried to catch him again, but the ground beyond the door was uneven and he tumbled. He rolled down the stairs and right into the table making a map fall of and land on his head. He shook it off snarling glaring at The One That Growled.
*****
“I thought – ” Daxter yell made Jak growls grew louder and he lowered his voice. “I thought I told you to get everyone out of here!”
Torn glared at the ottsel, carefully making no other moves that could be considered a threat.
“You said he was hurt. I don’t see how you’re going to be able to treat him.” An eyebrow rose. “Especially when you’re hurt yourself.”
Daxter shrugged, his fur was scorched black on his tail and one shoulder. And he was scurrying around on all fours because he wasn’t putting any weight on his left leg.
“And he doesn’t seem all that dangerous falling down stairs and having maps on his head.”
Jak made a sound that could have been a growl or sigh.
“Listen!” Daxter shouted, and Jak was instantly on alert again. “If you’d seen half of what I have from his shoulder you’d-”
“Know that he took his cues from you?”
“Wha-?”
“You shout at me, he growls, you’re hurt, and he’s in the worse eco rage you’ve ever seen, it doesn’t take a genius rat.”
Torn had been moving while he talked, carefully reaching behind him for some green cross boxes and water without turning his back on Jak. Not because he thought Jak would attack him the second he wasn’t looking but because he knew how much that pissed off normal people, he did not want to piss off an eco-high Jak.
Particularly an eco-high Jak who was covered in blood that was both his own and others, sporting a arm that mostly laying useless at his side, and a broken horn.
“I can see no one thought to shoot his legs out from under him.” Torn snorted. “Think you can get him to take his gear off?”
Daxter crawled up onto Jak’s lap and stood as best he could, Torn wondered what he was doing for a moment when his pack and eco ring fell to the ground, of course, the strap had been torn when the shoulder armour had been shot off, easer to finish the job than to fiddle with the catch. Still Jak jumped and turned around with a snarl when his pack it the ground with a thump. He absently caught Daxter with his good arm before the ottsle could fall to the ground. He growled at his gear and snorted at it before shifting a bit to the side and sitting back down. His eyes on Torn. His black claws curled around Daxter.
“I don’t think he’s gonna be leaving go of me any time soon Torn, so I hope you didn’t want me to do anything else?”
Torn sighed kneeling next to Jak who suddenly looked a lot less comfortable.
“Just undo his tunic…and try to keep him as calm as you can.”
“Yeah sure give me the easy job.” Daxter muttered.
*****
Daxter had opened his tunic And The One That Growls was knelt next to him. He could smell the green eco in the box, knew it would help.
He just wished The One That Growls wouldn’t sit so close.
Daxter was talking, the soft talking that usually meant it was okay to relax, but he remembered that Guards sometimes gave him green eco only to hurt him worse afterwards. And he remembered that The One That Growls had some kind of kinship with the Guard, and The Guard That Could Be Trusted.
But Daxter wouldn’t be talking safe if he was in danger, right?
That was the only thing that kept him from moving away, or biting as hands reached for his hurt arm.
But he still snarled and moved away when the knife appeared.
Knives were bad. Green eco, knives and guards together were very bad. Backing away from The One That Growls to the corner of the room, between the zoomer and a bunk bed, he snarled and growled warningly trying to remember why The One That Growls wasn’t a Guard.
Maybe because The One That Growls had let him go and was now waiting, face impassive as Daxter whispered safe in his ear, ran one had though his hair and pushed against his horn with the other.
Daxter may yell when there’s no danger or growl where there’s no threat but he’d never talked safe when it wasn’t.
Slowly he crawled his way back to The One That Growls Daxter encouraging whispers in his ear and paws in his hair the whole time.
The knife wasn’t like the guards’ knifes. Maybe it had changed, like The One That Growls had. A man that was no longer a guard, a knife that was no longer a…a…he didn’t remember the name of the little knives that hurt him.
Daxter kept talking safe even as The One That Growls put the knife down and reached for his hand. Pulling the glove off.
He hissed, it hurt. The leather stuck to his skin by sweat and blood.
The One That Growls then pored water over his hand and wiped it clean
The One That Growls said something then, may have been saying something all along but he had only been listening to Daxter.
He knew that tone.
The One That Growls could talk safe too?
He tilted his head to onside watching The One That Growls’ face watching his mouth as he talked. He’d been so engrossed that he hadn’t realised that the Knife that may not be a knife had been picked up again until he felt it cold against his skin, but cutting away from him, cutting cloth not skin.
Once Daxter and The One That Growls had removed all the tunic he wondered if he should feel more vulnerable, decided he didn’t. Decided that The One That Growls was as safe as Daxter and allowed the man to wash his wounds on his arm‘s and back. Only snarling at The One That Growls when it washed each wound a second time with water that stung before covering them in bandages and finally allowing him close enough to absorb the green eco and let it finish the job of healing him. Fixing things that couldn’t be fixed with first aid.
But he didn’t use it all, some of what he absorbed he flicked over to Daxter, who’s stance on his good shoulder was suddenly a lot more steady.
After that he gently head-butted Torn in the chest, rubbing his cheek against the man’s cold armour.
“Hey if your horn scratches that.” Torn muttered.
“Relax Torn, that mean’s he likes ya.”
Jak butted Torn’s chest again before dropping his head to his softer, but not particually comfortable lap and promptly fell asleep.
“Oh sure now he changes back.” Torn complained.
“Well I wouldn’t shove him off ya yet, startle him and he might change again.”
“He just nuzzled me in the chest moron I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”
“Would now be a bad time to mention he drools in his sleep?”