Jak is busy in this chapter. Gol is not. Not that the Dark Sage can help it, really.

Chapter 55: Restoration

Gol had begun to dread every morning, not that he didn't before, as each day since he had found himself in this prison, metal bars or not, brought nothing but pain or an intolerable amount of waiting for more pain. Whenever he woke up to find yet another morning had arrived, he was able to do little else but lie there, weak and aching and pathetic, for the Green Sage's daughter to show up. And then it would begin all over again, the pain, the overwhelming pain, before he would simply black out like every time prior. And then he wouldn't feel much better once he regained his senses, while the rest of the day would be spent gasping for air and receiving injections of the medicine they had been using to keep him sedated, his arms and his legs held in place by straps, and he could do nothing but think and wonder about what he could possibly do to escape this hell, while wishing that the so-called Light Eco Sage would just give up with whatever it was she was trying to do and leave him to deal with his despair in peace.

But, most frightening of all was not the imprisonment or the suffering he had to endure, no, it was what was beginning to happen to him. It was how the Dark Eco within him, that allowed him to live centuries longer than he would have otherwise, that had given him the power to nearly conquer the world, was just now beginning to feel more distant. The change was slight, for now, just the smallest perceivable feeling that things were not quite the same as they had been just days prior, that the Dark Eco that had been flowing through his veins nearly his entire, absurdly long, life was just now starting to fade, and he knew it would only get worse the more Light Eco he was subjected to. Yes, it would only get worse, and he would only grow weaker and weaker, and his only chance of escaping would be before anymore Dark Eco was erased from him. The longer he waited, the more impossible such an escape would become, but as he was now, he still didn't think he had any way of getting free. No, even now he couldn't escape from this place, and later, his helplessness would only grow worse.

There was no hope for him. Not now, not later, not ever.

She had already come today, sometime in the late morning, as that's when she always showed up, to dole out more misery she claimed was for his own good, and then he had passed out, only to wake up some time later, after she had gone, and he proceeded to spend his time staring at the ceiling or the stucco walls or the other beds that were not currently in use. Most of the time, it was just him here, except when a Wastelander or two would check to make sure he wasn't going anywhere and that his restraints were secure. The citadel had become a lonely place, even worse so with the memories of his dear sister to haunt him, but at least there, he could keep himself busy and at least try to keep his mind off of such things. There was nothing he could do now to pass the time but think and sleep, two things that brought back reminders of the events that had transpired in the recent past and what he had lost as a result, the only difference between the two being his state of consciousness. His entire day was a nightmare, whether he was awake or asleep.

Even now, he was in the middle of more of the usual, staring at the ceiling while torturing himself with thoughts of the past, and his misery was interrupted when he heard muffled sounds coming from the hallway. His body went stiff, his heartbeat picking up. Normally, she only showed up once a day. His head rolled to the side as the sound of footsteps drew nearer, but the source of the noise did not appear to be the person he was expecting. Even with his blurred vision, he was able to more or less recognize who his newest visitor was, and this person wasn't much better than the so-called Light Eco Sage.

"What do you want, boy?" Gol said. "Is the mere thought of my suffering not enough, that you have to see it firsthand?"

"My name's Jak, not boy. And you should just be grateful we're bothering to give you another chance even when you clearly don't deserve it." The boy stopped only halfway into the room, keeping his distance, even if the Sage couldn't see any possible reason for such discretion, when the person he was keeping his distance from was bound in such a humiliating fashion.

"For one thing, I never asked for your name, boy. And for another, I asked you to kill me, not torture me, so don't expect any appreciation."

"I guess it's just your misfortune that someone asked me to spare your life, otherwise—"

"Who? Who was it?"

The boy paused, his previous thoughts forgotten, looking just as perplexed as Gol must have appeared, even if he was the one who had brought it up. "A Wastelander, named Kass. She… What relation exactly do you two have? Why was it that she didn't want you to be killed?"

The woman…she was the one who asked that his life be spared? She was the reason he was being kept here, denied his chance for peace? The Sage forced a raspy laugh that held no humor. "I don't know the answer to those questions any more than you do, boy. And why don't you just get to the reason for why you came here already and quit wasting my time."

The boy looked away to gaze out the window nearby. Oh, how nice it would be if he was given such allowances. "I've been wondering…which one of you killed Torn?" he asked, his voice low.

"I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about."

His attention shot back over to the Sage, his eyes narrowed. "You know exactly who I'm talking about! The man that one of you murdered! The one with the red hair and the tattoos. Which one of you was it?"

"Oh, yes, I may recall the person you're talking about," Gol said, eyes half-lidded and his voice a low hiss. "If I remember correctly, he was the one who decided to butcher my dear sister. And I certainly wouldn't call his death 'murder' when she was only defending herself. Surely you remember her? Long hair, grey skin…"

"This isn't a joke. I lost one of my closest friends because of you two. Thousands of people died, and millions lost their homes because of what you and your sister did. Does that not matter to you at all?"

"I lost my dearest sister, and now I'm strapped to a bed like an invalid. So it appears we're even."

"Nothing about this makes us even. Did…did you not even hear a word I just said?"

"I heard, and I didn't care. We had our reasons for what we did, though they are reasons you and your simple mind will never be able to grasp, so I'd rather not waste my time explaining them to you."

"I don't care about your reasoning. There is never a reason to kill thousands of people. I just wanted to see if there was any part of that dark, rotting soul of yours that still feels any sort of remorse. Well? Is there?'

Gol stared at him, expressionless. "I suppose not."

The boy grew silent and still, seeming at a loss for words, though his mouth opened and closed once more. He directed a glare at the floor, before saying, "Samos was wrong, after all. There isn't any hope for you." He looked up for just a second, turning away when his eyes landed on the Sage's, and began to head for the doorway, but before he had gone far, he stopped, half turning back, one finger pointed at the Sage. "And I'm warning you…if anything happens to Keira, or anyone else for that matter, even if it's not your fault…I'll make you regret it. Do you understand me?"

"Are we through here? I'd like to go back to being a prisoner in peace."

The boy's eyes stared into his, hard and piercing, and then he turned away, this time not looking back, and Gol watched him go, watched him until he disappeared around the corner. And then he returned to facing the featureless ceiling again. No, he supposed he didn't care about what had happened to all those people, and certainly not the one who had butchered his sister. Their suffering was just an unavoidable means to an end in a greater plan, even if that plan had failed. But, he couldn't say what there even was left to care about anymore. For whatever reason, the woman had wanted him to be kept alive, but this only meant that he had missed his chance to leave this world, to finally have his suffering end, after so many centuries of being forced to tolerate it. He closed his eyes. Oh, to think he had come so close to seeing his dear sister again, only to have his misery prolonged by someone who likely thought she was doing him a favor. Someday, he would have to be reunited with his sister again, wouldn't he? Surely she would be there, waiting for him, once he was finally able to escape this wretched world. But, who knew when his next chance may be?

Jak and Daxter began their journey back to Haven City via the Sand Shark, along with a small escort of soldiers, a long drive through the Wasteland ahead of them and a great deal of work to look forward to once they reached their destination. It would take some time to fix a city of that size, but time he now had plenty of. As long as he could replicate what he did with the bomb, Haven surely could be restored to what it once was, and all the people misplaced to Spargus would finally have their homes back. At least, the ones not damaged by the other events of the war, but war was one thing where it was impossible to ever undo all of the consequences. That was one fact Jak knew all too well.

And even then, once the Dark Eco was gone, along with any more monsters that might remain, Jak wondered how long it would be before the people could truly feel at peace again. The memories of war were still fresh, and for all he knew, returning to the scene of death and despair, where they had spent so much time fearing for their lives and the lives of their families, might be a bit too much for some to handle. They would have to go back someday, the majority of them, at least, so the people of Spargus could return to their lives, but he certainly couldn't blame them for being apprehensive. For as he drove, the day turning to evening and then to dusk, the sun beginning to lower itself back down to the horizon to retire for the night, his heart began to pound out a quick rhythm within his chest at the thought of seeing that place again, for the first time since the blast.

Would it have changed even further? In all this time he had been away, would he return to find the Dark Eco had transformed the city beyond even the nightmare it had become when the bomb had gone off? Would the damage be worse, even, than he remembered it to be? He had been in shock when it happened. And he tried to remind himself, as they drew nearer and nearer to the place he longed to see again and, at the same time, dreaded, that it was surely nothing he couldn't handle, that no matter how bad the damage was or the Dark Eco's corruption, it could all be fixed. He was going to fix it. He had the means of fixing it, and that's all that mattered.

And then there was the reminder, that would cause his already pounding heart to leap in his chest, of what Dark Eco had done to him before, of how it had woken Dark Jak inside him again and how it had made him a danger to his friends. He gripped the steering wheel. No, that was not going to happen this time. In fact, such a thing was never going to happen again. He had Light Eco on his side. He now knew, more than ever, the power it had over its dark counterpart, and he would not let his light side slip away again as it had before. Despair at seeing the destroyed silo and the desert landscape twisted by Dark Eco was what had reawakened his dark side originally, but he no longer had reason to feel that way. This was a time for hope, as they were free from war again, their enemies either dead or captured. Dark Jak was not sneaking back again. If it tried, it had his light side to deal with.

And once he pushed these doubts away, only one more thing cropped up in his mind again, his visit to the Dark Sage and the man's disturbing words. But, he couldn't concern himself over that monster. Even if there was no hope for him to change, and Jak didn't much care either way, as long as the scumbag was never free to hurt another soul again, even if a second chance for that kind of man was futile, that wasn't his problem. It was Gol's. Samos could remind Jak all he wanted that the Dark Sage was once a better person, but in the end, it was up to Gol to become that person again, and if he didn't, he could just rot in prison. That's what he deserved anyway. That was better than he deserved.

They drove through the night, a large shape eventually coming into view on the horizon, and Jak's heartbeat picked up further. There it was. Haven City. Still standing, not that he doubted it would be, but it was a relief to see the place again, still intact, even if it currently wasn't much suited for life right now.

It wasn't much longer before they stopped a short distance from the city's damaged wall, and Jak jumped out of the Sand Shark to meet with the soldiers that had come here ahead of them several days prior, and they proceeded to tell him of how no more monsters had been found outside the city's walls, though none had felt it wise to brave a look within them quite yet. Not without Jak to go ahead of them, of course. And as much as he wanted to just get started, they all ended up in agreement over the decision to rest until morning before they began their work, a decision Jak would've fought only if he hadn't already been so exhausted himself. They ended up spending the rest of the night in their vehicles, sleeping as best they could while the soldiers that hadn't been driving all day took turns keeping watch, to guard against the chance of any more monsters appearing, whether they be the more recent threat of Dark Eco monsters or the more familiar Metal Heads. Yes, Jak really did miss the Metal Heads, even if that was one sentiment he never would have expected to have.

Jak awoke early in the morning, to the sound of the soldiers around him getting ready for the day, a bit sore and still a bit tired, but his anticipation at what was about to come was enough to make him forget such details. They had a light breakfast of canned supplies, the kind of things Wastelanders usually brought with them when expecting extended time out in the desert or when preparing for the possibility of being kept away from Spargus due to a sandstorm, the food consisting of preserved leaper lizard meat or cactus fruit, both of which had gained a strange mushiness he didn't quite trust. It wasn't the best tasting, but it would do, even if the water he had brought didn't seem quite efficient to wash the taste away or the unexpected film his meal had left in his mouth.

Once breakfast was over, they started up their vehicles again and moved in closer to the city, and it was now that Jak began to take notice of a purple tinge to the buildings ahead of them, in addition to large patches of purple and black marring the sand outside the city walls, signifying spots where the Dark Eco had long since soaked into the soil. His dark side attempted to draw itself up from his subconscious, only to be pushed down again, though with no effort needed on his part.

They stopped just outside the damaged section of the city wall, and Jak stepped out from the Sand Shark, striding forward as the soldiers began to leave their vehicles, as well, but made no further move to approach the tainted city. He continued forward until he had arrived within the city itself, stopping now that he had a better view of what the Dark Eco had done in his absence. While puddles of the stuff still rested here and there, much of it had seeped into the buildings and the streets, turning everything a mottled black and purple, like infected, dying flesh. This wouldn't be easy to fix, but a lot of the things he did weren't easy.

Jak closed his eyes, forcing any thoughts of the substance surrounding him from his mind, and focused on a bright light that had begun to materialize within him. This light began to grow, larger and brighter, its brilliance nearly blinding, until it filled all of him, and he no longer felt quite the same. He felt like so much more, like he was capable of absolutely anything. His eyes shot open as his wings extended, his body enveloped in the light that could not be contained within him any longer.

And with the slightest bend of his knees, the man sprung forward, latching onto the wall of the building before him, only to launch himself off a split second later, his translucent wings carrying him higher and higher until he spun in midair and found himself high above the city walls, the rooftops themselves visible to him, as was the great crater the robot had left behind. He began to fill his body with energy, with the unstoppable power of Light Eco, and when he could contain it no longer, when it would soon burst from him if he refused to let it free, he released it in a wave just as he had done not so long ago, the pure white of Light Eco washing over the city around him, and the Dark Eco melted away like fog being lifted by sunlight, the substance dissolving into the air, leaving behind damaged and crooked buildings, but at least they were no longer forced to have Dark Eco's vile touch on them.

"Yeah, it worked!" Daxter said, dancing on Jak's shoulder with little heed for the substantial drop below him. "The city's as good as ours again! And you're definitely getting at least half the credit this time. Well, maybe almost half."

Jak rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we'll see about that. And don't forget to hold on."

His eyes focused on the buildings ahead of him that still needed to be freed of Dark Eco's taint. There was still so much that needed to be done, and he would enjoy every minute of it.

The rest of the morning was spent soaring over Haven City and restoring as much of it as he possibly could, before he had to return to the cracked and crumbling streets below, his strength sapped, his wings retracting into his body just as his feet touched the ground for the first time in hours, as he reverted back to his ordinary self. There was only so much he could do before his light side was exhausted, and while he had covered a good section of the city, so much more remained. It would surely be a long process, but it would get done.

As he headed back in the direction of the newly restored section of the city, where soldiers had no doubt begun to patrol, on the lookout for any remaining monsters (not that any should have survived Jak's Light Eco wave) and to work on clearing away the rubble and bodies of the people the war had claimed. He looked about at the city around him, memories springing to mind of the battle that had raged here not terribly long ago. It had looked hopeless at the time, the battle doomed to end in tragedy, and it certainly seemed like it had when the robot devastated the city with its blast, but here he was, walking the streets again, streets that were finally empty of fighting and empty of the Dark Eco monsters their enemies had sent here.

These streets were empty of life, as well, but only because the citizens were safe in Spargus, the survivors, at least, and they would return, and they would rebuild, and the city could become better than it ever had been before. Maybe they could even rid the city of what was left of the Slums (even though they were nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the city at this point), and it could be a place where no one would have to live in fear or poverty again. Maybe this time, there was a chance this city and its people could finally have the peace they deserved. Maybe this time, there would be no more wars, at least, not for a while. Looking back on the city's history, it hardly seemed likely, but it could happen, couldn't it?

He met up with the others and got to work on the cleanup effort, none of the soldiers seeming to know quite what to say to the man who had transformed not once, but twice, before their eyes, to then clean away Dark Eco like it was nothing. He received a nod from a few, an awkward stare from another. It didn't matter much if he got any acknowledgement really, as nice as it was, as long as he could repay this city for his past failures and make it like the events he had been unable to stop had never really happened at all.

Gol was so darn nasty in that conversation, wasn't he? But, it's understandable he'd be extra cranky right now. His dialogue was strangely fun to write in this chapter. Please review.