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Everyone watched in anticipation as General Olympic and Rolin came back, fully anticipating that their number would have grown by one but...the portal closed behind them, just the two of them.
Hounder eyebrow raised and watched Olympic walk past him. "Where is she? The girl?"
Rolin couldn't look at anyone. "We lost her."
Hounder scoffed and crossed his arms. "Lost her. She can still be recovered even if she is dead."
Olympic stopped before leaving out the door. "She chose to stay there. And she got what she wanted." Then she walked through the door and let that be her final words on the subject.
Hounder nodded. "I see." He went up to Rolin and spoke somberly. "Son, you failed." He lowered his voice. "I believe it best you notify your family of your loss."
Rolin looked at the General for a moment before leaving as well. He walked the hallways, head down so much that the security officers took pity on him and didn't ask for clearance to leave. Eventually, he got to Astrid's door and didn't even stop to acknowledge his brother or Astrid, who was now off duty.
Astrid followed him. "Rolin, what's wrong?"
Montay strode right up to him and grabbed his shirt. "Where's Kori?" He stopped his brother and pulled him off his feet. "Rolin, where's Kori?"
Rolin looked up at the ceiling and away from his brother. "Don't make me say it, Montay."
Montay froze for a moment before growling and throwing his brother against the wall. "Why did I think I could trust you? Why couldn't you do something right, for once?"
Astrid ran to Rolin and stood between the two brothers. "Montay, stop." She was a full two feet shorter than either Azimuth son but Astrid looked into Montay's face with no fear. "He tried and that's the best we could ask of him."
Montay snorted. "The best we could ask of him?" He stalked past them and stomped back to his lab. "He lost our only sister. He failed when it mattered most, like usual."
Astrid glared at Montay for a moment before turning to Rolin. "It's okay, Ro." She said sweetly and checked him for injuries. "Maybe it's better this way."
Rolin shook his head and looked at Astrid. "It couldn't be worse, Astrid." He sighed. "I'm nothing but a failure."
Astrid kissed his cheek and petted his head. "You're not a failure. Not to me." She pulled him up. "Come on, I'll take you home." Astrid took Rolin to her ship and put him into it, taking him home and bringing him inside.
Becca was in the kitchen when Astrid and Rolin walked in. Her face a mix of emotion, noticing the loss of her daughter but before she could speak Astrid stopped her and put Rolin to bed. Becca spoke calmly to Astrid as she left Rolin's room. "Hello, Astrid," she leaned against the opposing wall. "It's been a while."
Astrid put on a smile and spoke respectfully. "I know, ma'am. I should come around more often."
Becca frowned and crossed her arms. "Astrid, tell me what's wrong."
Astrid nodded and felt like a child in trouble. "Yes, ma'am." Astrid and Becca made some hot drinks and Astrid told Becca all she knew. Which wasn't much.
Becca sighed and warmed her hands on her glass. "So...my daughter is gone."
Used to giving bad news, Astrid faced another kind. "I'm sorry."
Becca nodded and looked to all the family photos lining her walls. Now Kori stood out in each one she was in, hurting her mother's heart. "How I'm going to miss her, like her father before her."
Astrid placed her hand on Becca's and tried her best to be loving and supportive until she had to leave for the day. Becca went into Rolin's room after dinner. She rubbed her youngest son's head as he stayed in bed, preferring the dark.
Rolin rubbed his nose on his pillow and couldn't look his mother in the eye. "Kori says she loves you." Passing on Kori's final message to her mother.
Becca kissed her son's head, thanked him for telling her, and left him alone.
Montay didn't come home from work until very late from that day on and Rolin didn't come out of his room until Astrid forced him over a week later. Spade and Becca got to eat every meal for a while accidentally setting out a place for Kori. Becca missed calling for her daughter in the morning, and it took too long to remember to not make her daughter's breakfast.
The word spread that Kori was lost during an accident at the research facility. An unfortunate casualty in the pursuit of knowledge. Olympic even was in attendance at Kori's memorial.
It took a few years for Montay to speak to Rolin again and never did Montay ask for forgiveness or forgive Rolin. Rolin became, more or less, an invalid. Astrid eventually moved in to take care of him. Becca was happy to have another female in the house with her after all the time of it being just her.
Back in Polaris Kori did miss her parents, brothers, friends and the others she knew in the Lombax Dimension. Ratchet and Kaden tried to keep her mind off of it as she had to rebuild and modernize Fastoon's communication grid.
There was once, quite a while after Kori chose to stay, that Kori stopped what she was working on and sat and stared at it. Ratchet noticed and asked her if she was okay. She glanced at him, nodded and put her head in her hands.
Ratchet looked at his father, working away on something else, and then he scooted closer to Kori. "If you need to stop for today, it's okay." Ratchet spoke calmly. "I'll finish it."
Kori sighed and laid her head on the table. "It's not that…" she frowned. "I'm just thinking about them."
Them, Ratchet knew. Her family. Kori thought about them a lot, no matter how hard Kaden and he tried to distract her. Ratchet took her hand and smiled a little at her. "I know you miss them, maybe one day you'll see them again."
Kori smiled weakly and lifted her head again, moving closer to Ratchet to feel his warmth on her skin.
"No kissing over there," Kaden said, his back turned to them.
Ratchet and Kori separated quickly, blushing wildly. Clank laughed at them. Ratchet scooted away from Kori and pointed a frown at his father. "We weren't doing anything!"
"You two got quiet," Kaden smirked. "I remember those days."
Ratchet ducked his face down and continued working on his piece faster. Kori and Clank smiled at each other before Kori went back to work.
Kaden turned around to see the two youngsters working, and remembered back to when himself and Ratchet's mother were his son's age. Penelope would have really like Kori and that made Kaden smile. He remembered when he first met Penelope, it was love at first punch. Not many guys liked girls with right hooks that Penelope had but Kaden knew that she was the girl for him. If only she hadn't still been recovering from Ratchet's birth when…
Kaden tried not to go through ifs, they could drive someone insane. That reminded him. He made his excuses and went off to try to find a pair of hover boots, he had lost his pair somewhere forever ago. Not to ride, he quit doing that years ago when he almost broke his neck with the damn things.
Only to find that Ratchet had his hoverboots so of the two pairs he found one would have to be put back. Kaden stopped work for the day so Kori could learn how to use her new hoverboots.
"How did you ever feel safe on these?" She asked, holding onto Ratchet's hands as he pulled her around on them.
Kaden shrugged, "Practice."
Kori scoffed but was thankful for Ratchet. "Your dad is crazy," she whispered to him.
Ratchet laughed and whispered back. "Your dad taught me how to use mine." He smirked.
Kori gently pulled her hands from Ratchet's, trying not to fall over and embarrass herself. Kaden had her run the obstacle course several times before she felt good on her hoverboots. The last time she took the course too quickly, nearly running over Ratchet.
He caught her hand and just let them spin out her momentum. It was as if they were the only ones who existed and that over on the side they were not being watched by Kaden and Clank. Kori grasped Ratchet's other hand as they started to spin slower, making small orbits around each other.
Kori's bright blue eyes were the only thing Ratchet could look at and not get dizzy, as Kori gazed into his clear green eyes. It felt like they had been spinning forever and at the same time as if they had only just started.
The few years they had been working together on Fastoon's restoration, their time building and getting to know each other. The nights they would stay up talking and falling asleep together only to get scolded by Kaden the next morning. Ratchet gently took his hand from Kori's and placed it on her cheek, he closed his eyes and gently put his lips on hers. Kori's eyes fluttered closed, her spare hand going to rest on Ratchet's chest, and time stood still, the pair still spinning.
Kaden and Clank grinned at each other and Kaden handed Clank 60 bolts.
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