Weekly Oneshot #5: One Year of Misery
Ratchet laid restless in his bed, one arm hanging over the side and nearly touching the ground, his face half buried into his pillow. He had a single green eye looking at his alarm clock that read 11:59 PM. He just laid there, staring at the clock with hardly any blinking, the silence through the apartment slowly tearing him apart. His hands balled up into fists as he counted down inside his thoughtless head.
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...
The bright blue numbers on the clock changed from 11:59 to 12:00 AM. Ratchet's giant, emotionless black pupils reflected the numbers. But his sight of the time became blurry as a single tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek and onto the bedspread. His large fuzzy ears laid flat, not standing up like they usually were. It was midnight, signifying that it had been one year since it happened. 365 days of loneliness. 365 days of feeling empty inside. 365 days since...since Clank was kidnapped. Though it didn't feel like a year, it felt like an eternity to Ratchet.
Ratchet tried to turn away from the the clock, but his body wouldn't let him. The day after Clank was taken by the Zoni, Ratchet completely lost his health. Every day he kept eating and sleeping less, until he became nothing more than a walking twig with some fur on it. When Talwyn noticed the changes in Ratchet's health, she had forced him to go to the hospital to get himself checked out. The doctor had diagnosed him with both insomnia and depression, and that's what was causing him to look so horrible. The doctor demanded that Ratchet eat and sleep more for the sake of himself. The Lombax was actually going to listen to the doctor's orders, but he had ended up punching him because the doctor told him to not worry over some robot. He had broken the doctor's nose with a single punch, that's how angry the statement made him. He was going to start beating up the doctor more but Talwyn had to hold him back. The doctor said that the anger was just from the depression, and that he wouldn't call the police on Ratchet. But, even is Clank wasn't missing, Ratchet still would have punched that doctor for saying what he did.
So, after the hospital visit, Ratchet tried his best to eat and sleep better, but his attempts were pointless. Whenever he made food for himself, he always remembered how Clank would sit next to him with a can of oil and how they would talk about anything, and that put him off his meal. As for sleeping, it was especially hard to cope with. Without Clank wrapped in his arms while he was in bed, Ratchet felt uncomfortable. A robot and a Lombax sleeping in the same bed did sound really weird and sort of disturbing to some people, but it was just comforting for Ratchet knowing that there was somewhere there with him who truly cared about him. If either of them ever had a nightmare, they would have the other there to comfort them, and that was always a nice feeling. But, with Clank missing, Ratchet felt so insecure when he was lying in bed, like he was now. He had actually attempted to fix the problem by ordering a life sized Secret Agent Clank plushie off of the internet, and he had it in his arms currently, but it just wasn't the same. In fact, it only made him feel worse. He was hugging a fraud. A stuffed and sort of well made tuxedo wearing fraud. Ratchet would always get so angry when he woke up (if he managed to fall asleep) in the morning and saw those fake green eyes staring up at him, he would throw plush Clank across the room...then he would immediately get up and hug the plush Clank after throwing it.
Ratchet looked down at the plush Clank, its soft green eyes looking into his damp green eyes. He sat up, his weak body aching and crying out for proper nutrients, but he ignored his body's pleas. Instead, he held up the Clank plushie. His eyes filled with tears again.
"Clank...pal...where did you go? Wh-why...why haven't you come back yet?"
The plushie said nothing, it just continued sitting in Ratchet's hands, completely lifeless. Ratchet thought that he would be experiencing depression and despair when the one year anniversary of Clank's disappearance. But, instead, he felt anger as the Clank plushie stared at him. Next thing he knew, he was getting up out of bed, running out of the apartment (with extreme difficulty) and running up the stairs to the roof (also with extreme difficulty). Ratchet stumbled out the door and onto the roof, the freezing night wind hitting him right in the face. But he ignored the cold and the pain that his body was experiencing as he ran over to the edge of the roof. He looked around the sky, but he wasn't sure what he was looking for. There was nothing there. Suddenly, he yelled out.
"Hey, Zoni! How about a trade?! Take this Clank instead!" He yelled, holding up the Clank plushie. "Take this Clank, and give me mine back! Give me my pal back! ZONI!"
Ratchet yelled as loud as his lungs would let him, but he received no response. He felt his anger grow, and he looked at the plushie he was holding. He gave out a large growl, then, out of pure fury, he threw the Clank plushie off the roof. The stuffed robot soared for a few feet, then it plummeted down towards the ground. Ratchet held his position and let out a few big breaths, his breath turning into steam in the cold air. Then he suddenly calmed down, returning to standing up straight. Then his eyes went wide when he realized what he had just done. It was gone...the only thing he had left to hug and call 'Clank' was falling off the tallest apartment building in Metropolis.
The Lombax quickly dashed off the roof and down the staircase and several others. Though he was more throwing his shell of body down each flight, it a miracle that he didn't break his legs while he was running or going down the steps. But, when he got to the last flight, he did stumble and fall down. His body was flung forward and he landed on the floor and the bottom step. Ratchet raised his head a little, and he felt something warm leaking out of his nose. He gazed downwards to see a tiny pool of blood forming from the drops that were leaking from his nose. They were starting to get heavier, but he didn't care. Instead of asking for medical attention or even grabbing a tissue to help control the blood flow, Ratchet rushed through the front doors of the lobby and went outside. Drops flew from his nose and he looked swiftly in all directions, searching for that plushie. He thought that he was an idiot for throwing it. And he was no longer angry at just everything, he was angry at himself. Throwing the stuffed robot off the roof felt like that he was throwing Clank off the roof, and he would never do that in his entire lifetime. So he had to find that plushie so he could at least feel a little better.
The Lombax finally spotted the toy sitting in the bushes that were planted in front of the apartment building. It was laying in the dirt, still completely lifeless. Ratchet quickly ran over to it and grabbed it, then brushed some of the dirt off of it. He even fixed the little black bowtie that was attached to its sewn on tuxedo. The Lombax tried his best to not get his nose blood on the toy's fabric. The company that made the plush doesn't make toys that are machine washable.
When Ratchet was done cleaning up the toy, he simply looked at it. It really did look a lot like Clank, no wonder he felt so bad for throwing it off the roof. He straightened the plush's fabric antennae, it was exactly like fixing the real Clank's antennae. Maybe the toy was more real than he thought it was….
As a matter of fact, it was too real. Ratchet went back to 'I'm holding a fraud' mode as he sunk to his knees. Then he flung himself backwards, his back against the cold sidewalk. And his horribly skinny body provided him with little to no heat, the Lombax could feel actual coldness running up his spine. Ratchet balled his hands up into fists and placed them on his forehead as he looked up at the dark night sky.
"Zoni...please...please bring Clank back...I'll...I'll do anything. I'll give you anything. I'll pay you anything. Just bring me my friend back...please...I-I'm begging you...please..." Ratchet pleaded to the sky, tears streaming out of the corners of his eyes and onto the cold ground. He held the Clank plushie close to him, holding its stuffed hand in his fist. It still wasn't the same. Nothing has been the same for the past year. Waking up, knowing that he was the only one in the apartment, having no one to talk to, no one to repair ships with, no one to watch holo-vids with, no one to pat on the head and call them his best pal. His life was completely empty without that little robot. Ratchet almost felt like he did when he was alone on Veldin for fifteen years, only this feeling was one thousand times worse. The lonely Lombax noticed several shooting stars in the area of sky that he was looking at. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I w-wish...I wish that I had Clank back..."
The shooting stars sailed across the sky silently, and Ratchet sighed. What in the world was he doing? He was putting all of his hopes into a falling star. Even he knew that the old tale about stars granting wishes didn't really work. People would wish for all kinds off stuff when they saw the streaks of starlight in the sky. But, during the past six years, Ratchet would always ignore shooting stars. It was because he always told himself that he didn't need to wish for anything he wanted, because he had what he wanted the whole time. And Clank helped him realize that. But he never told Clank about the whole 'no need for a shooting star' thing.
But, now Clank was gone, and he was now paying attention to these stars. But what were they going to do? Ratchet had never really wished upon a shooting star before, so how did he know that they actually worked?
Ratchet sighed sadly as he stood up and wiped his eyes. He also wiped his nose, as it was still dripping blood. A lot of the blood stuck and dried in his fur, so he would need to clean himself up. So he held his Clank plushie tight and walked weakly inside, thinking about his shooting star wish, and not knowing at the moment that Talwyn was calling the apartment to tell him that she had a lead on how to find out where Clank was.
I've always thought about doing a oneshot where Ratchet reflected on Clank's kidnapping, but I have never done one...until now, at least.
Yeah, Insomniac never showed how Ratchet reacted to Clank's two year disappearance. I guess that he became depressed and probably lost track of his well-being, so I thought that I would base this week's Weekly Oneshot on that. And it is depressing as hell (admit it).
Also, I already have a raging idea for next week's Weekly Oneshot. It is the final movie prediction oneshot, but I just recently came up with an awesome ending to it, and I don't want to wait a few weeks to post it. Personally, I blame the new movie screenshots for the movie oneshot excitement.
Oh, and be sure to check the Update Schedule on my profile. Especially all you Circuit fans.
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This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus signing off!