Ratchet slumped into his seat and started Aphelion's engine with a heavy, exhausted sigh. After two whole years of searching...two years of sleeplessly trudging through deadly terrains and going up against various enemies...he'd finally found Clank. When he finally had him back, he thought everything would be fine after they'd defeated Dr. Nefarious. All of those years had finally paid off.

However, things ended up going south pretty quick. When they reached the Great Clock, Alister, his new mentor and family, went mad with guilt and tried to go back in time to correct his past mistakes and save his race, which ended up killing him as a result. If the death of his fellow lombax wasn't enough, he now had to say goodbye to Clank for the last time. His friend said it was necessary for him to stay behind and fulfill his destiny, and Ratchet fully understood and supported his decision-that's what friends do, after all-but now he was alone all over again. Without Clank, he was no one.

He pressed his forehead to the steering wheel and tightly closed his eyes, taking a moment to recollect his thoughts and convince himself that this was the right thing to do. 'Just leave this place, Ratchet. You can't just expect him to come back,' he thought, 'Clank told you he had to do this. You're both off to bigger and better things. Be happy for him.' He found this to be difficult, however.

Ratchet gripped the wheel with one hand and hesitantly flipped a switch with the other. The top began slowly lowering, and the lombax began to lift off. "...Goodbye, Clank," he muttered as he glared straight ahead. His concentration was suddenly broken when he heard something slip into the ship and land in the seat besides him.

Clank looked up at him with a cheery glow in his eyes. "Hello, Ratchet."

"C-Clank?!" Ratchet immediately cried out, the lombax both overjoyed and surprised, "What are you doing? I-I thought you were supposed to stay here!"

"Yes, that was what I felt was best at the time," the robot glanced at the Great Clock and back at Ratchet, "However, finding my family made me realize that...well, that I cannot leave you, Ratchet. Not until you find a family of your own."

"Clank…" Ratchet chuckled and wiped away tears. "Clank, you are my family." He brought the other into a tight hug, resting his head onto the robot's metal frame.

Clank blinked and hugged back. When they finally let go of each other, it was much too soon. The robot hopped back into his seat and snuggled into it comfortably with his arms resting under his head.

"So," began Ratchet as he readied for takeoff, "where to, pal?"

"Let us go home, Ratchet. Who knows how many episodes of 'All My Circuits' I've missed since my absence. Hehehehehe!"

"Good call. I think I could use some shut-eye."

After entering Kerwan's atmosphere and landing their ship, they took the elevator to their apartment, a place neither of them had seen since this whole thing started. Ratchet felt relief when he peeled his glove off and pressed his bare hand to the scanner lock for the first time in years. He was granted access, and the front door slid up to allow the duo to enter. "Home sweet home. Just how we left it," he sighed happily.

"...Yes." Clank peeled a pair of Ratchet's undergarments off of the living room sofa. "Just how you left it." He flinched in disgust and dropped it into a musty pile in the floor. "I just remembered that Tachyon coincidentally decided to visit this city before we began spring cleaning."

"I'll help you with that in a bit, but for now..." The young lombax flopped onto the black leather couch and rested his feet on the arm. "Ahhh … It's so good to be home," he sighed, far too exhausted to remove his armor.

Clank hopped up and sat next to his friend. "Indeed. It certainly has been a while." They sat there in silence in the dimly lit room for several minutes. The little robot spent that time looking out the large window to his left. There were very few hovercars out at this time which gave them an even clearer view. The sun was setting, and the sky was currently painted with vibrant shades of orange and purple. Clank found it calming to watch the sun disappear behind the many tall buildings of Metropolis.

Ratchet stole his friend's attention. "Hey, uh...Clank?" he asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I've been thinking about this since our ride home. What would you think about, you know...retiring?"

Clank turned his head so fast his neck joint made a strange noise. "Retiring? What do you mean, Ratchet?"

"You know, retire from this 'hero business' stuff. I wanna go back to the old days where we'd just hang out and play holo-vids until three in the morning. I was actually thinking we could go back to Veldin and move into our old garage. Sure, it's no fancy apartment in the city, but it's home."

"So, when another planet is in trouble, you want to stand by and do nothing?" the other argued, "I do not understand how you could be so careless about this, especially when our absense could result in the lives of many being taken."

"Look, it's not our sole responsibility to save everyone when they're in trouble. There are other heroes out there that'll be willing to risk everything they have to save the day, but I can't be that guy anymore. I lost Alister right in front of me today, and I almost lost you. I almost lost everything." Ratchet sat up and looked Clank in the eyes. "I can't deal with that, Clank. Not again. I don't know if I could live with myself if anything happened to you."

Clank looked surprised at Ratchet's sudden change in tone. He looked down at his feet, which dangled off the edge of the couch cushion. He thought back to what'd happened earlier that day...when Alister killed Ratchet right in front of him. He fell over the edge of the Clock, and Clank watched as his body disappeared into the depths of space. Sure, he was able to save him thanks to time travel, but what if Ratchet were ever in that kind of trouble again? It's not like he can travel back in time whenever he feels like it, and he wouldn't stand a chance against the kind of enemies Ratchet goes up against. There isn't much this little robot could do to protect his friend. All he's good for is being his backpack.

Defeated, Clank let out a sigh. "When will we begin packing?"

Ratchet smiled softly. "Let's wait until the end of the week. I say we enjoy a little bit of rest for now."

"That sounds delightful. How about a movie night?" Clank asked while holding up the holo-vision remote.

"Great idea, pal." Ratchet hopped off the couch and walked towards his room. "You get the movie started, and I'll change out of this heavy armor."

"Be sure to wash up as well," Clank called out as he began searching through their media library, "Your fur is dirty."

Nighttime visited Kerwan and shrouded Metropolis in a pitch-black veil littered with bright, bouncing stars. One of the planet's red moons watched over the citizens as they each extinguished their lights one by one. As it got later and later into the night, traffic dwindled down more and more, and the skies were void of vehicles other than the occasional patrol hover-car or grav-train.

The large plasma-screen holo-vision's vibrant visuals lit up the dark apartment with its flickering light. Shadows crept behind the duo as they sat on their sofa and watched the holo-film together. Clank was sitting politely and paying attention to every detail in the movie, while Ratchet only paid attention to the action, as he was more concerned with stuffing his face with popcorn and whatever else left they had in their kitchen(their long trip had left him famished).

Ratchet could never pronounce the name of this movie. It was an older foreign film from a distant galaxy he'd never even heard of before. Clank says that the actors are speaking Markazian. Despite all that time spent hanging around Talwyn, he still hasn't learned a word of her species' language. Good thing the movie had subtitles.

It was about halfway over by this point, and the main robot character had just finished throwing a whole crew of radioactive zombie Blargs into a volcano lined with poisoned spikes. He only had one foe left to face: the sentient shadow being who'd kidnapped his boyfriend, a Markazian being. His lover was tied up, and as the protagonist began untying him, the villain crept up behind him and paralyzed him with a shock wave of dark energy. Clank jumped at that part and scooted closer to Ratchet until they touched.

He couldn't help but laugh. "This movie got you spooked, pal?"

"Mog is certainly an ominous character."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry about him. He won't get you as long as I'm around," the lombax teased, elbowing Clank and chuckling as the film continued. The main character was bolted to the wall of a cave littered with scratch marks and dark spots. The shadow creature was about to suck the life essence out of his boyfriend so he could cross into their plane of existence and raise his army from the Other World. Clank's eyes were glued to the screen, watching in anticipation of how this situation would resolve. Even Ratchet had to admit it was a tense moment and stopped binging on junk food to pay attention.

As Mog crept closer to the Markazian, the robot yelled out the name of his lover. "Zanthir!" He became furious and mustered enough strength to break free from his restraints. Before Zanthir was harmed, the robot pulled him away and freed him. Then he wielded his newly upgraded Dawnsword, which he'd preciously taken to a legendary blacksmith in order to give it the power to obliterate shadows, and destroyed the villain as he cried out it complete agony.

With the threat gone forever, the couple reunited and embraced one another. "You did it, Gear...The Universe is safe, and you saved me, just like I knew you would," said Zanthir as he looked lovingly into his boyfriend's glowing yellow eyes.

"I couldn't go on without you, Zanthir. I would surely let each galaxy crumble apart if it meant you would be brought back safe into my arms," Gear declared sincerely. The two moved closer and kissed as they looked upon Planet Varuz and witnessed the the sunrise return its light to the vallies.

As the credits rolled, Clank looked up to Ratchet with a big grin. "Ooh! I quite liked that one," he stated excitedly, wiggling a bit in his seat.

"I'll admit, it wasn't bad for an older movie." Ratchet smirked as he responded. "Action was pretty cool."

"Agreed. I also enjoyed the romance quite a bit," Clank admitted, "Gear and Zanthir had great chemistry."

"Yeah," Ratchet chuckled and lightly nodded, "You know you're into someone when you travel across entire galaxies to find them. He was..."he paused, his voice becoming softer, "was willing to do anything for him." He was now in a daze and not yet realizing that he was looking directly at Clank. The robot's innocent blinking eyes had a warm glow; a shade of green that made him feel safe and comrtable. Ratchet knew he was home when he looked into his eyes...

"R-Ratchet?"

Ratchet's smile faltered and his eyes widened as he realized he was mere inches away from the little robot's face. Embarrassed, he quickly backed up and stuttered, "O-oh! I, uhm...uh, sorry, pal!" His eyed darted to the side. "Didn't mean to invade your space. I've, uh, had a long day, what with all the-"

"No need to explain yourself, Ratchet. I understand that you are tired. I was just worried," Clank assured before he jumped off the couch, "It is getting late. I think it is time for both of us to be powering down for the night."

Ratchet watched as Clank walked towards their shared bedroom. He laughed to hide his embarrassment. "Y-yeah, sounds good." Once his friend was out of sight, the lombax collapsed onto the couch with his hands hiding his face.

"Dammit...not again."