Summary: Okay I will say this now, if you don't like dark and depressing stories, GO AWAY! This is set AFTER Tools of Destruction, but the Zoni never took Clank. It's about another Lombax, who Ratchet and Clank discover one night in terrible shape, both physically and mentally. They decide to take care of the Lombax and try to get him over the hell he went through. Yes there will be mentions of rape, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and so on. Which is why it's rated M. Got it? Good…

Disclaimer: I don't own Ratchet and Clank

Chapter 1: Don't Ever Stop Running

Darkness, that's all he could comprehend at the moment, it was dark, probably around midnight or one in the morning, but that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting away. He could hear the voices of yelling and screaming behind him, but again that didn't matter either…the only thing lodged in his mind was get away, get away NOW!

The person running away was a teenager, sixteen years old, and a Lombax…that's right there was another Lombax in the universe. But he didn't know that…hell he didn't even know what he was. He was unique, that's the reason why he was taken by the same people who were after him, he was running from a crime organization, he knew that much. He was taken by them when he was six years old, a member of said organization had found an "exotic" looking child on the street alone and without any parents. That was more then enough reason for him to take the boy and use him.

But not for carrying out jobs or things like that, the only thing they used him for was for sex; he had been raped since the age of six. After ten long years of sexual abuse, his mind snapped and he ran, he didn't care if he died, he didn't even care if he lived or not. He just wanted to get away. He had run right after of one of his "sessions" which was why he was dressed the way he was…and that was just a pair of boxers.

As he ran he became more and more aware of the sticky liquid that was running down his leg. Every time he took a step the sticky wet feeling became more apparent, and the urge to just fall and vomit grew stronger, but he ignored it. All he could do right now was run, no one would believe it if they saw him but he was actually an athletic teenager, he was strong for his age and could run quickly and keep at it for a while.

Add the adrenaline of "fight or flight" mode into the mix and you got one fast Lombax. While he was running away two agents were sent to subdue him and bring him back, they were both wearing suits, but that's all he could tell about them, he knew one thing was that they couldn't and wouldn't shoot him. Their leader thought he was too good looking for that. The Lombax didn't know if he should take that as a good thing or a bad thing…but if he got caught he knew something worse would happen then just getting raped again, he refused to find out what.

The Lombax smiled as he noticed the voices behind him were starting to breath heavily, after running for about an hour straight and yelling they were about to come to a dead stop. When the voices stopped and he stopped hearing their footsteps he cried out mentally in triumph. But he couldn't stop now, he had to keep running…and he didn't know if he would ever be allowed to stop.

Away from the unknown Lombax, another more known Lombax was walking down the roads of Stratus City, (that's where they are right now) with a little robot walking next to him. Whenever Ratchet couldn't sleep he would go out for a walk, and his best buddy Clank would go along with him. You could tell just by looking at him that he couldn't sleep…mostly because he was till in his pajamas, black sweat pants, and a dark green t-shirt, without his hat his hair fell into his face just a little past his eyes, obscuring the green orbs a bit.

As the two walked down the street Clank turned to his friend and asked,

"Ratchet this is the third time this week…is something the matter?" Ratchet sighed, and smiled a bit, Clank could pick up anything when it came to Ratchet's emotions, Ratchet didn't even look at the robot, he kept his eyes forward and replied,

"Yeah…I still can't get over what Tachyion said…and since I'm' the last Lombax it doesn't really help anything ya know?" Clank sighed and shook his head, these thoughts had been running through Ratchet's head for a while now. Clank patted the back of Ratchet's leg,

"Don't worry about what he told you. He was just some annoying little prick, who was mad at the Lombaxes. He'd come up with any bullshit excuse to make you think twice about killing him." Ratchet looked down at Clank while they walked, and Clank just continued to look forward,

"I'm rubbing off on ya." Ratchet noted, Clank chuckled,

"Yeah…I think I'll live though." The robot replied,

"Hey what's that supposed to-" Ratchet started but he was cut off by,

"STOP!" Ratchet looked up he saw a brown blur run up to him, then dive into the bushes beside the two. Then two men in business suits ran up panting and asked,

"Did you see a teenager run past here?" Clank opened his mouth to tell him where he was but Ratchet cut him off,

"Yeah, he went that way." Ratchet pointed them in the wrong direction. Clank looked up at him confused, and the two suits nodded a quick 'thanks' and ran off. Clank looked at the Lombax,

"Why did you lie to them?" Ratchet just looked at the bushes,

"I get a bad vibe from them." Clank chuckled and joked,

"Racist against people who wear suits?" Ratchet didn't laugh, he just replied evenly,

"No people who don't look trustworthy…you can come out now. They're gone." The bushes rustled, and then to both Ratchet's and Clank's surprise a teenage Lombax wearing nothing but boxers walked out of the bushes. He was breathing heavily and said,

"Thanks." When the Lombax looked up he froze, he looked almost exactly like Ratchet, except his fur was a darker shade of tan and the marks on his ears were darker also, his hair was the same style as Ratchet's but a little longer, and his eyes were a golden crimson color. A million questions raced, in all of their minds, but Clank asked,

"Why were they after you?" the unknown Lombax looked down and replied,

"I won't go back." the other two had confused looks on their faces,

"Go back where?" Ratchet asked, but all he got was,

"I won't go back." they stared as the teenager, repeated the line over and over, and with each time he took a step back, getting closer and closer to the edge, where if you fell off of it, there's no way you're coming back. After Ratchet and Clank noticed this, Ratchet said,

"Be careful! You'll fall." The unknown Lombax, looked at Ratchet, his feet were right at the edge and he said, with a dead look on his face,

"I won't go back." then he slowly fell back, but luckily for Ratchet after years of fighting, his reaction was perfect, right before the unknown Lombax plummeted to his death, Ratchet dove forward and grabbed his leg. Then quickly hoisted him back up onto the platform. The pair looked down at the teenager. He had lost consciousness from running and all the adrenaline leaving his system at once.

Ratchet then became aware of something wet and sticky on his hand, he looked down and saw his hand was covered in crimson, along with random strands of something that was white. He looked down at the unconscious Lombax and noticed the liquid was running down the inside of his leg. After a moment the realization finally sunk it…he turned to Clank with a shocked look on his face and said,

"Clank…he was raped." Clank looked at him shocked, when he also noticed the mixture of blood and semen, he replied,

"Ratchet we have to take him with us." Ratchet just gave an empty chuckle and replied,

"Oh yeah…we're taking him with us." Ratchet, picked up the teenager hoisted him over his shoulder. Then Him and clank continued to walk home.