Restoration
By Karen Hart
Disclaimer: The Xenosaga series is the property of Monolith Software Inc. and Namco Bandai. I write these fanfictions for love of the game(s) and make no profit off of them.
The walls of the Piper Street side entrance to the East 6 Garage had been stained by smoke and Gnosis effluvia. The wide concrete stairs had been scorched in several places. The steps would need to be replaced, but the walls just needed a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint.
Soapy water from the brush Jr. was using dripped down his forearms. He ignored the sensation and continued scrubbing. The stains were fading, but he still wondered how he'd ended up with cleaning duty.
Because you lost the coin toss, a voice in his head told him.
Jr. twisted around to look at the voice's source. Gaignun was almost out of view; what Jr. saw of him was an arm and shoulder, the rest of his body obscured by one of the garage's large wooden doors. It sat partly off of its hinges, and Gaignun was making a show of struggling to get it into place.
Jr. wiped the water off of his arms. Only because you cheated. He stepped down from the stepladder he'd been using to reach the upper stains and reached for the nearby bucket, pulling it closer.
True. Gaignun was probably smiling, but he was still hidden behind the door.
There was damage all along the street, and indeed the whole sector. Street signs were bent and fences were mashed down to the pavement. Streetlamps flickered, until they'd had to be turned off. There were places where the concrete had crumbled. Windows were shattered. Burn scars were widespread.
There were also people all along the street. Some swept up the glass. Some washed out the stains. Those with keen eyes and nimble fingers unraveled fallen clotheslines from the railings they'd gotten tangled on. A few children put themselves on fetch and carry duty.
The Gnosis had made a mess of a lot of the space colony, but mess or not, the Kukai Foundation's citizens hadn't wasted any time in getting the repairs to their home underway. Even the Directors were pitching in.
Jr. squashed down a pang of guilt. His reasons for helping weren't entirely altruistic.
He'd managed to rescue MOMO from the Song of Nephilim, which was good. As soon as she'd returned to the Durandal she'd been rushed to the Realian infirmary. She was being taken care of. Also good.
But her kidnapper had been Jr.'s missing twin, and that was . . . less good. Jr. wasn't ready to discuss Albedo with anyone, even MOMO. So he scrubbed.
There was a brief outcry as the door Gaignun was manhandling back onto its hinges swung down awkwardly before being righted again. East 6's owner (and local gang boss) King was perched on a section of a nearby undamaged low wall, a bit of meowing gray fluff in his hands. The kitten squeaked when King shot upwards.
"Be careful with those doors, they're custom made!"
Jr. glared at him from the steps. "You could be helping!"
Once we put this back up, we'll get him to fix the washers over at Lavare, Gaignun said in the privacy of Jr.'s mind.
"I am helping," King insisted. "I'm making sure François's adorable son isn't harmed in all this to-do!" He brushed a hand through his chin length blond hair and went back to cuddling the kitten.
Jr. opened his mouth to protest, but someone else beat him to it.
"Petting a cat isn't helping." That was Mina, from the Bakery Smile up the street. "If you really want to be useful, grab a broom."
King laughed. "I don't sweep. Menials sweep. I oversee. I ensure that innocent felines are kept from harm. And if needed I perform mechanical miracles in order to resurrect broken machines. But I don't sweep." He tickled the kitten under the chin. "I don't, do I, Josephine?"
"Josephine?" Jr. said.
"The offspring of my darling François deserves a regal name."
Mina rolled her eyes. She was guiding a tall rolling rack around one of the potholes in the road. There was a scent of fresh bread and warm fruit preserves. Several people put down their tools and began converging on the rack.
Jr. spoke around a bite of raspberry tart. "Well, they need you to resurrect the washing machines over at the dry cleaners."
King feigned distress. "Who will look after Josephine?"
"Let Johnny take care of him for a while," Mina suggested. "I need to get him out of my ha—"
There was a crash from the back of the garage, followed by several strings of curses.
Gaignun?
Gaignun picked his way down the damaged steps. "The ceiling in the passage leading to the apartment complex over Smile collapsed." He shook some dust off of his T-shirt. No suits for him, today.
More than one person paled. A lot of local kids liked to play in that passage.
"Anyone hurt?" Jr. was the first to ask.
"No, but it's going to take time to clean up."
There were exhalations of relief. "That's good to hear," Mina said, stacking an empty tray under some croissants.
"No other damage?" King wanted to know. "My Triumph is okay?" His cats might have come first, but King had a special place in his heart for his motorcycle collection.
"Your Triumph is fine," Gaignun assured him. "Go look if you need to."
King stroked Josephine's fur. "Well, if the Managing Director says it's fine . . ."
"He does," Jr. said. "Now go hand that kitten to Johnny and give Sheila a hand with those washers."
"I'll just have a quick look first," King said, going to do just that.
"I guess the Director's assurance isn't quite enough," Mina mused.
Jr. took another bite of his tart. It's worse than you're letting on, isn't it? He wiped at a bit of raspberry filling, only managing to spread the stain further.
The complex had housed a small gallery for local artists, and a library of printed books. There'd been a waiting list for tenancy. It was a sought out place to live.
Unfortunately, it had taken some of the worst damage in the attack. Jr.'d seen a lot of it firsthand when he'd helped to rescue the survivors. It hadn't all been structural damage, either. He'd seen several mounds of salt . . .
Yeah. It looks like the rest of the floor above is ready to cave in. This is going to take a lot more than cleaning. Gaignun searched the rack for bearclaws.
"Dad says he'll be sorry to see that place go," Mina said.
Gaignun and Jr. both looked at her. "Go?" Jr. said.
"Well yeah. With all the damage those monsters did. Dad thinks it'll be easier to tear the place down and rebuild it, than try to repair it."
Jr. looked at Gaignun. I guess breaking the news will be easier than we thought.
"Mikhail won't like it, though," Gaignun said. Mikhail ran the building's library.
Farouk and Mina are atypically accepting people. Most of the surviving residents won't be happy to lose their homes, even if the building is too dangerous to live in.
Jr. thought about that. A lot of homes and people are going to get shuffled.
"He'll have to deal with it. If Dad and I have to convert the back storeroom into an apartment, he can find a place for his bookshelves." Mina gave the now-emptied rack a spin. "I need to get back. I left Johnny in charge of the register."
Gaignun smiled. "You'd better get back before he gives the shop away."
Jr. and Gaignun watched her head back to Bakery Smile.
When she began to dwindle, Jr. headed back to his wall. Gaignun followed.
The stains had faded considerably. Jr. picked his brush back up, plunged it into the bucket, and began scrubbing again. "We've got some pretty good people here, don't we?"
"We do." Gaignun picked up another brush and joined him.
They worked in companionable silence, mental and auditory, for a quarter of an hour. Then: "How do you think they'd feel about putting in something like a park, where the building is now?" Jr. suggested.
Gaignun used a hose to spray down the wall. "Something with a fountain, maybe?"
Jr. nodded. "A fountain would be perfect."
"I think MOMO would love to design a park with a fountain."
"Hey!" Jr. threw his brush at Gaignun, who dodged it easily; it wasn't a well-aimed throw. "I wasn't trying to suggest anything."
Gaignun returned the brush. But you'd like to give her something to concentrate on besides the kidnapping she just endured and the analysis that's coming up.
Yeah, Jr. admitted. We'll be destroying the Song once Dr. Okamura gives her a clean bill of health. I hope seeing that place go will help some, but I don't think it will be enough.
"Well, I suggest you talk to her about it, before King turns the area into a cat sanctuary."
"MOMO would like that, too." Jr. gestured with the brush. "Of course, if they did put in a cathouse here we'd never get you back out."
I'm still holding the hose, you know, Gaignun pointed out.
Wait!
