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haunted-xander · 1 year

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Chiaki was relieved to finally get to sleep at home again. The walk from Towa city to the apartment complex was long and included stealing an abandoned car, as well as Izuru carrying the trolley with Nagito and Monaca inside with his bare arms while walking on ground so covered in rubble it's a miracle it was walkable at all.

Once they'd gotten inside, the first thing Chiaki did was head into the bedroom and flopping down onto the bed. Despite how tired she was, she felt far too dirty to fall asleep right away. Izuru walked inside carrying a sleeping Monaca, and gently laid her next to Chiaki on the bed. "You will need to shower before going to sleep, Nanami."

"Mmm. Don't wanna."

"Nanami."

"Kamukura-kun."

Chiaki knew she was just being petty again, but she really didn't feel like dragging herself up so soon after having laid down. Izuru seemed less than pleased. "...Fine, I will assist Komaeda in washing himself first, then I will make you shower. I will drag you in there myself if necessary."

"Will you strip me too?"

"...If necessary."

"Hm okay. I'll let you do that then. Less I gotta do the better."

"...So childish. How boring." Accepting his fate of having to manually wash two grown people, Izuru left the room and presumably got started on helping Nagito shower. Chiaki however, felt herself growing drowsier by the second until she fell asleep.

The sound of something being dragged inside woke her up. She felt rested after her sleep, even if it had been interrupted in the middle by Izuru waking her up for a shower and having moved to sleep on the couch to let Monaca have some space for her first night. Now, Chiaki sat up from the couch, realising her previous human pillow Izuru had been replaced with an actual pillow. Making sure not to disturb Nagito sleeping on her lap, she tried to look around to see what the commotion was.

Izuru walked in from the door, dragging a wheelchair inside with him. He noticed she'd awoken and locked eyes with her for a second before returning to dragging the wheelchair. She noticed him heading towards the bedroom, presumably to let Monaca into it.

Nagito was still sound asleep.

Some time later, Izuru came out alongside a grumpy Monaca, who was now seated in the wheelchair. "G'morning. Looks like Monaca-san can start moving around herself now. That's good." The girl in question started smiling and wheeled herself towards the couch. "Good morning, Big Sis! ...Huh? Is Mr. Servant not awake yet? ...Did Mr. Stalker do something?" She turned around to glare at Izuru. "...I did nothing. He is simply exhausted"

"Hmm, Monaca doesn't believe you! Mr. Stalker is definitely suspicious!"

"Hm, actually, I saw him put something in the water he made Komaeda-kun drink before sleeping... I think." Chiaki had assumed it was the usual medicine, as Nagito probably hadn't been able to take them while working in Towa City, but maybe it wasn't. "So Mr. Stalker did do something!" Monaca wheeled closer to Izuru and lowered her voice, "...You better hope Mr. Servant wakes up soon, or I'll torture you in the worst way imaginable. I'll cut you up, digit by digit, limb by limb, I'll rip out your teeth and tear out your eyeballs before strapping your remaining head and torso to a stretcher and watch as your body rips itself apart."

Chiaki felt a shiver run up her spine at Monaca's threat, suddenly very glad the little girl seemed to like her. Izuru, on the other hand, was completely unfazed. A tense silence filled the air.

"...Hey hey, I'm hungry, can we have breakfast already? What's on the menu today, Kamukura-kun?" She decided to break the atmosphere by appealing to their stomachs. ...And her own. She was very hungry. "...I will see what we have." And with that, Izuru disappeared into the kitchen.

"Hmph. Why is Mr. Stalker cooking, he can't be trusted." While her dark expression had vanished, she was still clearly unhappy with leaving Izuru to do anything on his own. "...Well, I can't cook, and as you probably already know, neither can Komaeda-kun. Unless you want to cook yourself, you'll have to eat what Kamukura-kun makes."

Monaca paused at her reply. "...Ugh, fine. But if he puts anything weird in the food I'll kill him."

"Okay. I don't think he will, though." A thought suddenly entered Chiaki's head. "...Hey, Monaca-san. Would you like to take a bath? You're probably dirty, right? ...And you could probably do with some new clothes, too. I think I have some clothes in your size..."

"...Why do you have children's clothes in your house. There are no children here. Do you have an illegitimate child or something?"

"...I'm 21. I'm not old enough for kids. ...Not your age, at least. Besides, I've been very careful with protection. Having kids when the world's like this would be bad... probably."

"...Who would you even have sex with? It can't be Mr. Servant, he doesn't like girls, and it better not be Mr. Stalker."

"......"

"...Ew."

"...Anyway, Do you want that bath?" Chiaki tried to get the conversation back on track. "A bath would be great! Monaca's tired of all this dirt meow." ...She's meowing now? "Okay then. I'll go find some clean clothes for you. ...Tell me if you need any help, okay? The bathroom's right over there." Replying with a smile, Monaca went off and entered the bathroom.

Only now remembering the man sleeping in her lap, Chiaki carefully tried to shimmy herself from under Nagito's head, replacing herself with the pillow Izuru gave her once she was free. She went into the bedroom's closet and searched for fitting clothes for Monaca. she found a skirt resembling the lower part of Monaca's usual dress, a white, collared, sleeveless shirt, and a pair of socks the same color as the skirt. Figuring this would be a bit too cold for her, she searched around for any long-sleeved shirts or hoodies to add to the outfit. Althought she wasn't looking for it, she found some child-sized underwear. Oh, right. She'll need to get clean panties too... How lucky. I hope they fit.

After a few more minutes of searching, she found she had no long-sleeved shirts or hoodies in Monaca's size. From the bathroom next door, she heard Monaca call out, "HEY, BIG SIS! I'M DONE! CAN I GET THOSE CLOTHES NOW? I DON'T WANT TO WALK AROUND NAKED!" Chiaki decided she'd look for something warmer later, and grabbed the clothes as she walked to the bathroom.

She knocked on the door before announcing herself, "Hey, I've got your clothes here. Can you open the door a little so I can give them to you?" Without replying, Monaca opened the door just enough to outstretch her arm and opened her hand expectantly. Chiaki placed the clothes into the girl's arm and watched as it swiftly retreated back into the bathroom and the door slipped shut. She decided to see if Nagito had woken up yet and walked into the living room.

"Ah, Good morning, Nanami-san! Are you helping Monaca-san? How kind of you! You must be the most hopeful kind of person to help such a pitiful little girl!" Nagito greeted her the moment she walked in. "Oh, you're finally awake. Good morning."

"Say, how's little Monaca-san doing? I hope she hasn't been causing any trouble for you!"

"...You sound like a parent."

"Ah, do I?"

"Yep. Totally a parent."

"Who's a parent?" Chiaki hadn't noticed Monaca get out of the bathroom, but now she was wheeling herself towards Nagito, wearing the clothes Chiaki handed her. "Good morning Big Bro! Monaca was beginning to wonder if you were gonna sleep forever! ...Hm, but since you woke up, I guess I can't kill Mr. Stalker after all... What a shame. Oh well! At least Big Bro is fine!"

"...Please don't kill Kamukura-sama. I like him very much and would prefer having him around! ...And besides, if he dies we won't have anyone to cook for us!"

"Hmm... Okay! But only because Monaca doesn't want to starve to death. Or eat more of the disgusting filth you tried to make for us." Chiaki smiled at their easy banter, their interaction reminicent of siblings. "...Hey hey, Komaeda-kun, isn't it a bit too cold in here to go around pantless? I know your old pair was ruined and all, but you should probably grab some of Kamukura-kun's for now." Nagito's pants had been thrown away yesterday, as Izuru had deemed them beyond fixing on account of the tearing and old, stained blood covering it from the thighs down.

"No. You're not allowed to."

"...Why not? You don't want him to have pants?"

"I don't want him to have Mr. Stalker's pants. They're probably itchy and stuffy and have the insides covered in poison ivy."

"Ahaha, you sure have an imagination, Monaca-san! I often share clothes with Kamukura-sama, so I can assure you that there is nothing of the sort inside!"

"Ew, you share clothes with that guy? I won't allow it! From now on you're not allowed to wear any of his clothes. And that's final."

"...Aha, whatever you say, Monaca-san. No pants for me today, I suppose." Having accepted his fate, Nagito grabbed the blanket that had fallen off the couch when he woke up, and placed it back on top of himself. "...Oh, that reminds me. I was trying to look for a warmer shirt for Monaca-san earlier, but didn't have any in the correct size."

"I don't mind a big hoodie. Just give me something, my arms are cold."

"...Alright, I'll grab a few and we'll see which ones you like the best." Chiaki went back into the bedroom and grabbed a couple hoodies, quickly returning with them in hand. "Okay, I've got a couple hoodies here. Let's try them!"

With that, she first handed Monaca a near-black blue hoodie with orange on the hood's inside and white, sharp 'teeth' coming from the hood's opening. "...It looks stupid. I don't want it."

Next was a large black hoodie with poofy, cuffed sleeves, a crooked cat tail in the back and large cat ears on the hood. "Hm. Cute but too simple. I don't want it."

Then, a yellow-ish green hoodie paired with a leather jacket. "Ew, why is the hoodie neon green? And I hate wearing leather. I hate it. No."

Lastly, a light pink hoodie with bunny ears, a bow on one ear, a cartoon-ish bunny face on the hood, and white patterning on the ends of the sleeves and ears. "...It's far too cutesy and detailed. It makes Monaca think of Kotoko-chan. Hmm... I like it! I'll take this one!"

"Oh Monaca-san, you look adorable!" Nagito got up and walked behind Monaca, holding her shoulders. ...And what's that on his left hand...? "...Komaeda-kun? What... happened to your hand?" The skin had more color than Nagito's usual pale complexion, and yet looked far less alive than he did. Additionally, it had perfectly manicured red nails on the tips, uncharacteristic of Nagito. "Ah, that. My apologies, I must've forgotten to inform you. You see...

I took Junko Enoshima's arm for myself."

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radioactivepeasant · 5 months

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Snippets: Free Day Thursday

Ok, part 2!

Part One Here

(Warning for brief violence)

"Okay!" Daxter snapped, flinging a piece of a lever to the ground in disgust, "That is the last time I ever, ever, touch any more stupid Precursor crap!"

Jak would have responded, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the strange place they had fallen into. Hard stone covered the ground in even, flat surfaces, like walking paths made of one solid piece. They matched the gray of drab huts built four or five levels high -- fortresses? -- with equally flat tops and windows covered in a thin, reflective material of some kind. Everything smelled like rotting garbage and the exhaust fumes of his zoomer! What kind of dead ruin was this?

A ruin, perhaps, but hardly a dead one.

Zoomers in bright colors and sleek shapes darted back and forth overhead, mesmerizing the small boy. There were more people on them than he'd ever seen in his life! People walked along the streets in crowds! Was this what Uncle called "city"? It was so much bigger than the villages! And if he stood on the tips of his toes, Jak could see more structures that were even taller!

"There he is!" a harsh voice rang out.

A group of -- were they people? They were covered in armor with goggles that reminded Jak of the giant Precursor robot -- marched towards him, carrying strange weapons. The long, thin things reminded him of the Yellow Sage's blunderbuss. Some forgotten instinct told him that these things were deadly, and never to be played with.

Why were they coming towards him? Had he done something wrong?

Oh no! The broken pieces of the Rift vehicle must have hurt someone!

"Move in!"

In mere seconds, the red warriors had completely surrounded them. Part of Jak wanted to fight, but if they were just protecting their city from what probably looked like an attack, maybe it would be better to stay calm. Jak didn't want to find out what those weapons could do at such close range. But as the circle closed around him, Jak looked up into the face of their leader, and his stomach turned.

This wasn't a misunderstanding. These people were looking for trouble. The tattooed man smirking down at him had the same unreasonable gleam in his eye as Gol Acheron. He didn’t want to talk. He was going to hurt them whether or not they gave him a reason.

Jak took a step back without thinking as his pulse began to thunder in his ears.

What does he want? I didn't do anything to him! Why is he looking at us like that?!

"Step away from the animal!" barked a soldier.

Whoever they were, they understood that Jak was more powerful with Daxter supplementing his attacks. But Jak had never seen these people in his life!

Had he?

The boy cast a frantic look down at Daxter as a soldier began to move towards him.

Run! Run, Daxter!

With a shriek, the ottsel dodged the armored hand and dove between the man's legs.

"GO GO GO!" he screeched, darting off down a side street.

But Jak couldn't follow. The men crowded closer, fencing him in as their sneering leader snapped, "Forget the rat! The Baron wants him!"

Me? Why?! What's a Baron?!

A cruel smile twisted the leader's face as he signaled the man beside Jak.

"We've been waiting for you," he cooed.

Something slammed into the side of Jak's head, dropping him like a stone. Lights danced behind his eyes, and he couldn't think past the pain. Why? Why were they doing this? Were they friends of the Acherons? Rough hands grabbed him by the arms and dragged him to his feet, ignoring his soft whimper. He had to escape. Had to find Daxter. Somehow Jak knew that if he let these people take him, he might never see his friends again.

His throat pulsed and spasmed, but he couldn't force the sound past the lock in his mouth, couldn't cry out for help. Someone! Please, please stop them! Precursors! Somebody!

Somebody answered.

There was an awful, wet sound. Claws through cloth, and flesh, and the horrible, high screams that always followed.

Jak knew that sound. When the Lurkers attacked village outskirts and Samos sent him to clean up the mess, he'd learned what it sounded like when someone was being ripped apart.

His head was swimming, but Jak forced himself to look up. Through leaking eyes he caught the blurry figure of a...a someone, covered in armor. Their head -- or maybe a helmet? Hopefully a helmet -- looked like the skull of the monsters that had flown out of the Rift Gate, complete with the shining yellow thing on the forehead. They were attacking the leader man, the one who hadn't been wearing as much armor as the others.

It seemed the leader wasn't accustomed to close quarters fighting.

He screeched again as the newcomer raked long claws down his face, then bodily lifted him. With a grunt that sounded more human than monster, the creature flung its victim into the soldiers surrounding Jak just as they raised their weapons. There were three flashes of light at once, then panicked shouting and more screaming. The eco that shot out of their weapons had hit their leader as he was thrown, by the sounds of the yelling. "Commander Errol" continued to scream like he was dying. He probably was.

Abruptly the two men holding his arms let go. Still disoriented, Jak staggered and fell to his hands and knees. More yellow eco blasts roared over his head, adding to the ringing in his ears, and the stench of blood grew stronger. Maybe he could crawl out of the way, escape down the side street Daxter took. Maybe-

The creature shot out a red hand and caught Jak by the wrist, pulling him to his feet so quickly his head spun and his stomach lurched. He tried to pull free, but the monster's grip tightened.

"Can you run?"

A man's voice. Was it a creature? Or was this more armor?

Jak wobbled and groaned, and the man-thing seemed to take that as an answer. Without another word, he ducked down to sweep Jak's legs off the ground. He bundled him close to his blood-spattered breastplate and began to run. The jarring of boots against stone did nothing to allay the pounding in Jak’s head, radiating from where the red soldier had hit him. What on earth was happening to him?!

"Hold on tight, Jak. Going to get a little tricky here," his rescuer said.

Wait. He knew Jak's name? How did he know Jak's name?! Did he know one of the sages? Maybe the Yellow Sage, since he seemed like some kind of wild man. If he knew the sages, he'd know how to get back to Sandover! Jak struggled to make a sound the man would recognize as a word or question. Grownups never understood signs, why would this one be different?

"Wait, Jak. We're not safe yet," said the man sternly.

Jak stilled. Whoever this was, he didn't sound like the kind of person you ignored.

Streets flew by as the man ran down alleys and around more corners than he could count. Then his steps slowed. There was something metallic and green -- one of those unusual zoomers that had been flying around, wide enough for two people -- sitting unattended. The man made an exclamation of triumph and hurried over to it. He deposited Jak into one of the seats with a surprising gentleness, fastening two strange belts over his chest with a click.

"That commander's access pass will get us into the agricultural sector," his rescuer said, as if that meant anything to him, "then we'll be out of the city and into the forest. Just stay close to me, no matter what, understand?"

Jak stared at his mask with wide eyes and didn't answer. The man sighed, rattling behind the skull.

"I know. I know you don't recognize me, little one."

Strange, he sounded kind of sad.

"I promise, I'll explain what's going on when we're in the forest. Now: hold onto something."

The wide zoomer, it turned out, was a lot faster than his a-grav zoomer back home. It could hover a lot higher, too. If Jak's head didn't still ache, he would have been a lot more interested in the vehicle. But as it stood, he was pretty sure he was going to throw up. Was this how Daxter felt when they were running around?

Nah. Daxter was one of the toughest people Jak knew. He could roundhouse kick a Lurker in the face and flip back onto Jak’s shoulder without even getting dizzy!

Wait! Daxter!

Frantically, Jak waved his hands as the zoomer careened through and around other drivers, scraping paint more than once. Even though he didn't expect an answer, he signed, "Go back! Go back, my friend is back there!"

Predictably, the man did not go back. But to Jak’s surprise, he did answer.

"We're not going back," he grunted, throwing the craft into a climb that left the engine straining. "That plaza will be swarming with guards now."

Then, a little gentler, he added, "Don't worry so much about Daxter. He's a smart boy, he knows how to keep himself safe until someone comes for him."

Not only did this person know who Jak was, he knew Daxter?

A smart boy. He called Daxter a smart boy.

No one had ever said anything that nice about his best friend before. Especially not adults. Jak had never understood why everyone but Ollie and Mrs. Perch seemed to hate Daxter so much, but it had always frightened him. If they hated a kid who never did anything to them, that meant Jak was on a tightrope every day to keep them from deciding to hate him, too.

But the scary man who grabbed him, he knew Daxter's name. He didn't call him a rat or an animal, he called him a boy! He called him smart! Jak’s previous fear began to melt away. Anyone who talked about his best friend like that had to be a nice person, right? And he was a fun driver, too! Too bad Jak's stomach was trying to crawl up his throat at the moment.

After a tense few seconds, the zoomer leveled out and shot past a fancy fountain, over the heads of people in nicer clothes than what Jak had seen before. A few shook their fists and complained as they flew past. Slate gray paths gave way to the first green he'd seen since first getting into the Rift craft. A long, narrow expanse of grass held several plots of unusually large produce. The plots were being tended by exhausted looking people in much dirtier clothes than the people by the fountain. They didn't even glance up when the zoomer sped by.

They pulled to a stop at a high, forbidding wall. The door shaped vaguely like a skull only added to the sense of foreboding around it, as if it was a warning. A quick glance around revealed that the wall extended as far as Jak could see, so high that nothing was visible beyond it. How could these people stand it? It must be like living at the bottom of a silo!

Jak was snapped from his thoughts by the man yanking the strap things off him with a click and pulling him out of the zoomer. It took him a moment to get his feet under him, but at least he didn't feel like he was going to tip over.

"Hurry," said the man tersely. Almost as if he wasn't thinking about it, he reached down and took hold of Jak's hand. He tugged Jak after him and walked swiftly towards the door.

"Not a little kid!" Jak protested with his free hand as best as he could.

Although, he had a feeling his rescuer could argue to the contrary, considering Jak barely stood as high as the man's ribcage.

"Now leaving Haven City," said a woman's voice above their heads as the door rolled shut behind them. Jak looked around for a talk-box, but couldn't tell where the lady was speaking from. "Haven", eh? Didn't seem like much of a Haven to Jak.

A second door opened in front of them, and a weight lifted off of Jak's shoulders.

Trees, ancient and massive, sprawled across hills and around a creek running placidly down to a lake. Nature didn't care about soldiers and cities and people hurting each other. Nature kept growing and being born and dying and being reborn in an eternal cycle of eco. It was a relief to see none of those entombing walls before them. Strange though, Jak didn't see any signs of wildlife. One bird chirruped several trees away, but everything else was eerily quiet.

The armored man lifted an oddly shaped talk-box to his ear and turned away from Jak.

"Satellite One, this is Lighthouse. We're clear."

"Copy that, Lighthouse. Wait, who's "we"?"

"Oh. Jak. The kid Praxis was trying to ambush?"

"Kid?! Wait, you didn't tell me you were going to grab someone's kid!"

"Don't worry about it," the man said casually, "Focus on the mission."

The person calling themselves Satellite One was quiet for a second, then relented. "...right. I'll...I'll bring him home, Damas. I swear it."

"If anyone can, it's you." The man -- Day-maz? Is that what Satellite called him? -- put the talk box away and took in a deep breath through his nose. Then he pivoted to kneel in front of Jak.

"Alright, let's have a look at you."

He unlatched the mask or helmet and slid it off, revealing a human face beneath a hood. He pushed it off and shook his ears free with a grumble.

"Bah. This disguise is a necessary evil but I can't say I'll be sad to see it go."

The clawed gloves followed, and then rough brown fingers lifted Jak's chin carefully, checking for injuries.

"Look up? Good. Pupils...ah, mmhm. Jak, can you tell me if you feel dizzy or nauseous right now?"

"Yes."

Thin, almost invisible eyebrows rose over violet eyes. "Yes you can tell me, or yes you feel dizzy?"

"Yeah, that one." Jak frowned. "There's no birds."

The Day-mas man released Jak's face and clicked his tongue. "Well, you may have a mild concussion, little one."

Jak's ears drooped a few seconds after the words caught up to him. Aw man! But those take forever to go away without eco!

The thought of avoiding running and climbing for a few weeks was torture!

"There's a green eco vent a couple miles into the woods if we keep going northwest. For a slight brain injury you really need a full vent, but I can give you a little now to make walking easier."

The man pulled off more of the scaly armor and searched around a belt full of pouches before coming up with a tube of some kind of paste.

"Hold still."

Eco in paste?! How did he get it into a jelly?! It sat cold on Jak’s skin, numbing the place the guard had slammed his weapon into. Jak shivered as his mind cleared a bit. With the adrenaline beginning to wear off, he was starting to notice the cold. He'd need to find some yellow eco to raise his core temperature. Absentminded, he signed a thanks to the man and looked around.

"Who are you?" he asked, then belatedly remembered to add, "How do you know me and Daxter?"

With a weird, sad, smile, the man sat back on his heels. "My name is Damas," he said quietly, and then spelled it with his hand.

"You sign?!"

Jak thought adults just weren't capable of understanding signs!

"Yes," Damas signed back, "It's very common where I come from. Come, we need to get you more eco. Explanations can wait until you are fully healed."

He stood and held out a hand.

"I'm not a baby!" Jak complained, but he took the offered hand anyway.

Damas chuckled warmly. "No, you're not a baby. But you are quite small, compared to me. I wouldn't want you to get lost out here in the unknown. You never know what you'll run into out here in the woods."

"No birds," Jak commented again, frowning into bushes and trees as he was tugged along.

Entirely too cheerfully, Damas answered, "No, no birds. You're keeping track of your surroundings, good! There are predators nearby that have scared them off."

"Wha?!" Jak yelped, looking around again.

Damas squeezed his hand and began to make his way along the creek. "You don't need to worry about them, alright? I won't let anything hurt you, I promise."

Jak made a skeptical sound, but squeezed back and let himself be guided deeper into the woods, and further away from the world he'd left behind.

#fic prompts #writing prompts #jak and daxter #dadmas #my art #king damas #jak and daxter au #free day thursday #Jak gets his recklessness from his dad #Damas 100% did not tell anyone what he was planning #especially not the dress-like-a-metalhead-and-maim-Errol part #that was a last-minute idea on his part to shake public trust in Praxis #don't worry Jak all of Spargus is just as confused as you are #there is a DAMAS. LOOSE. in HAVEN!#damas is on the loose #this still doesn't have a title lol #bonus points if you recognize the reference image the illustration is based on #note: DAMAS STILL DOESN'T KNOW JAK IS MAR 🤣#fragile things au

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