The Ghost and the Fountain

[Dark Link]

Kerrigan told the black-clad warrior to stand down, though she didn't really need to. Once the danger had passed and the sword harmlessly fell to the ground, he strapped the shield onto his back just as instinctively as he retrieved it. The moment he did so, his focused expression was gone, giving way to the wonder and confusion he exhibited before.

Having been exposed to large quantities of information in a short span of time, the boy's mind was in overdrive as it attempted to process everything. But before he was really able to focus on the task, the shield bearer experienced an unusual sensation. Thoughts resounded in his head...thoughts that were not his own. In fact, he quickly came to realise that they belonged to the girl that addressed him just moments prior. Unlike before, however, these thoughts were not directed at him.

Once more, the grey-haired male was exposed to a flurry of phrases, their meaning unknown to him. Kill....want.....pain.....murder.....care.....reward.....his mind soaked in every part of the Ghost's internal monologue, even though the boy understood so little that it might as well have been gibberish. But before the warrior was able to make any sense of it, the company of soldiers had set up a square formation with Simmons ahead of the group, awaiting the girl the join them. Turning to look at her unexpected ally one more time, the Ghost then proceeded to walk to where the unit commander was. Not wishing to waste a moment longer, the military leader firmly yelled out: "Company, march!"

And so, with their firearms strewn about all across the floor of the Nexus, the group began its long journey towards Coruscant. Puzzled as always, the boy observed their departure. As he did so, the last words the red-haired teenager told him kept repeating in his mind. "Thanks. I will go with them now." He kept thinking about what exactly those words meant as the company increasingly distanced itself from the fountain....and though it was hard to tell, the black-clad swordsman could have sworn he saw a pair of emerald eyes glancing back.

Speaking of swords, he looked down upon the now motionless blade that the Ghost used to threaten the commander. The dark steel object stood in sharp contrast to the white environment, though not as much as the pitch black blaster rifles surrounding it. Without thinking too much about it, the grey-haired teen grabbed the weapon by its leather-wrapped handle and raised it. He still didn't know what it was...but he had an inkling as to what purpose it served. Given the dangerous situation he was in moments ago, there was a possibility that it would turn out to be useful. And it was apparently his to begin with...after all, it was strapped to his back. With that thought, he effortlessly returned the blade into the covering it belonged.

But as he sheathed the sword, the boy noticed that the two Primes that had previously only observed the incident finally approached him and he was able to take a good look at the strangers. The taller of the two was a being similar to him that even had pointy ears, though the ones on the mysterious man were much larger and more prominent. Covering his muscular build was a dark blue tunic, a simple brown kilt and bronze-coloured set of metallic armour. The various plates were held together by large leather straps, some of which were connected to a metallic ring that was positioned on his chest. He also wore a red scarf and gadget-like goggles. Most striking of all were his yellow-green hair and goatee as well as his large cerulean eyes, which were looking right back at the black-clad warrior.

Meanwhile, his companion was unlike anything the teen had ever seen. Staring at him with beady eyes and a frightened expression was...some sort of rodent-like creature with orange fur and a yellow underbelly, though it walked in a bipedal fashion . While it was naked for the most part, it too had goggles on its head, though those were simple aviator spectacles by comparison. It also wore fingerless gloves on its paws. The creature's tail wavered nervously as it finally mustered up the courage to address the male in black: "H...hi! We're Dak and Jaxter.....I-I mean, Jak and Daxter!" The weaselly life form pointed at itself and then at its companion: "T-That is to say, I'm Daxter and he's Jak!" All of a sudden, a wide, seemingly-confident grin appeared on its face and it flexed one of its arms as though it was trying to show off a bicep: "Though, I'll have you know, some call me Orange Lightning!"

The human-like of the two, Jak, remained quiet during his friend's fruitless attempt at bravado. But once they were introduced, a smirk appeared on his face and he commented: "Nice sword." Checking where the armoured man was looking, the boy noticed that his eyes were fixed on the weapon he sheathed. So that is what it was...a "nice sword". But that was the extent to which the teen payed attention to the phrase and returned to looking at the two with a puzzled expression. Unaware that he was incapable of doing so, the duo was expecting the swordsman to introduce himself. When he did not, an awkward silence ensued. This wasn't helped by the fact that the warrior then proceeded to circle around them, observing them from every angle, just like he did with the red-haired girl before.

Bewildered by this unusual behaviour, Jak and Daxter exchanged glances. Daxter in particular lost any semblance of his cocky attitude and looked noticeably uneasy again: "J-Jak...do you think this guy is...?" He followed this up by doing a circular motion with his index finger right next to his head. The green-haired human naturally understood what he meant, but said nothing. While the warrior's demeanour was certainly...odd, Jak had encountered far stranger individuals on his travels. So he felt no need to judge the swordsman based on a bit of abnormal attitude.

After thoroughly examining them, the boy stopped right in front of the two and observed them with a slightly confused expression once more, resulting in another awkward silence. When the pair did nothing, the black-clad male turned to look at the direction where the Stormtroopers went. By that point, it was difficult to tell the soldiers in white apart from the environment, especially from that distance. Wondering where "her" and the white figures went, he looked at the Primes next to him. Noticing where he was looking, Jak motioned with his head in that direction and asked: "Do you want to go with them?" Naturally, there was no vocal response to this, but the teen did turn his red eyes that way again.

He though once more about what the girl told him. "Thanks. I will go with them now." He was unable to make sense of some of the words at that time, such as "thanks" and "now". However, he noticed that people sometimes pointed at themselves when they said "I'm", which sounded similar....so when they said "I", it's possible that they were referring to themselves. Then there was the word "go", which both the girl and bearded men used. The warrior remembered that she started walking with the white figures...and the green-haired man used the word again while they were still walking. Was that "go"? The boy could not think of anything else it could be.

Then there was "them"....what was "them"? The swordsman pondered deeply about this, but could not really find an answer. But as he continued to be deep in thought, he realised something....the white figures were never called "he", "her" or "you". Was it possible that they were called "them"? So "her"...walking......yes it made sense. The girl started walking with the white figures, so it must have been the white figures who were "them". Putting all the pieces together, the result the teen got was......that "her" was going to be walking with the white figures. That must have been it, since that was precisely what happened.

With that mostly resolved, the boy thought about the question the man next to him made. "Do you want to go with them?" As he contemplated about the word "you", he came to a discovery.....when people used the phrase, it was always when they were directly interacting with someone, like how the bearded man was interacting with him. So when he said "you", he was referring to him? So if he.....go with them. The man was asking if he was going with them. But what did the word "want" mean? This, however, was something the boy could not figure out. Tried as he might, he lacked the context to understand the meaning of it. He thought about how, if the girl was there, she would be able to explain what it meant as she used it herself...

It was with that idea that the boy finally achieved an epiphany. The girl went with the white figures. So if he went with them, he could go with the girl. And if he went with the girl, she might explain to him what words like "thanks", "now" and "want" meant. So was he going with them.....yes, yes he was!

All of a sudden, the man in dark attire broke into a sprint without even knowing he could do that. Since the human and animal duo quietly observed the swordsman as he contemplated, they were naturally startled when he suddenly burst into action. The orange rodent called out to him: "Wait! You haven't told us your name yet!" But the boy wasn't paying attention to them any longer, nor did he know anything about proper etiquette. At that moment, he was focused on his goal; to catch up with the group....to catch up with "her".