Ratchet looked around outside the cave. He had just parked Aphelion and Periapsis in Kaden's garage so he could work on them, and while he wanted to talk to his dad, (I don't know if I'll ever get used to thinking something like that) he wanted to talk to Rivet a bit more. He scanned the area by sight and sound, and at first he couldn't catch neither hide nor hair of her, the night that had fallen while they were talking to Kaden making it even more difficult. Then when he looked above him to the cliff that overlooked the cave entrance he caught the barest flash of white and blue.
"Found you." He muttered to himself before starting to climb. It wasn't very high of a cliff, more of a hill actually with step-like outcroppings lining a path right up to the top. When he got there he found her sitting and leaning against a large boulder, staring up at the stars. He wasn't ashamed to admit that the sight of her silhouetted by the starlight of his home made him lose his tongue for more than a few moments.
"Hey." He said softly from a distance once his voice worked again. She jumped a little bit and turned to look at him.
"Oh, it's you. Hey." While her tone was somber, she did sound kind of happy to see him
"If you want to be alone for a while I understand." He said and she shook her head, the gentle way it made her ears wiggle in the starlight a little distracting for him.
"No, It's ok. I could use someone to talk to right now anyway. Better than myself."
"Well." He huffed and pulled himself the rest of the way onto the spot she had found and reclined next to her, close enough that he could feel the heat from her arm. "I'm always willing to lend an ear, shoulder or hand as needed."
She grinned, seemingly despite herself. He wasn't sure how he felt about seeing her this… contemplative. While he was happy inside that she trusted him enough to show him this state of mind, it clashed with the bold and unabashed Rivet he had come to know.
"Thanks." She redirected her gaze up at the stars once more. "We learned a lot today, huh? About our family and who we are, how we got here. It still doesn't feel real. But then again, neither did Periapsis when we first found him, or you when Bolts first told me about you."
"Neither did you. I didn't even register you were a lombax the first time I saw you, the idea was so far-fetched."
She looked at him puzzled. "You saw me before Zurkies?"
He nodded. "When you first took Clank out of Nefarious city and went through the bazaar you blew right past me."
"So I literally bumped right into another lombax and never knew. Great." She rolled her eyes in her own sarcasm.
"You had good reason not to notice. You were being chased by robots at the time."
"That was all of the time back then, but I see your point." She got quiet again after that and kept looking up at the stars. What was going through her head he couldn't even begin to guess, but she'd talk when she was ready. Until then he was content to sit and watch the stars with her.
Minutes went by in silence, Ratchet simply enjoying the company. Then Rivet spoke again. "How well did you get to know my dad? Your version of him at least."
He rubbed his head and neck. "Not that well to be honest. I tried to ask him all sorts of things, about the lombaxes, about my dad. But everytime he would just deflect my questions and say that we were making it so I would never even have to ask them."
He glanced over once he had finished speaking and saw some of the hope wither in her eyes, making his stomach drop. He scrambled to fix what he had done. "But that's not to say I didn't get to know him at all! In fact, thinking back, you actually kind of remind me of him."
"You don't have to lie to make me feel better."
"No, really! I wasn't making the comparison before, but now that I am I can clearly see the similarities. For starters there's your white fur, even his was a bit brighter, then just your overall build. You're not quite as ripped as he was, but given time I think you'll get there." She shot him a look that told him he was about to find out just how strong she was first hand via flight from this cliff, but the look was broken by a small smile that graced her lips.
"Is that all you've got? We look kinda the same?"
"No. Just like him, you're kind when you need to be and utterly ferocious in a fight. Just like him, you don't hesitate to throw yourself into danger for the sake of others. Just like him-"
"And what if I don't want to be just like him? He killed you Ratchet and almost ripped time itself apart. All for the sake of a mistake he couldn't get over." He recognized fear in her voice now, and oddly enough it scared him to hear it. Scared him enough to know what to say next.
"For the sake of the people he loved. I'm not going to say he did it for entirely selfless reasons, but he would never have gotten to that point if he didn't grieve for what he had done and for the people that died because of him. You're your own person, and there's nothing written in the stars that says you're going to turn out just like him. But that doesn't mean he didn't have at least some good qualities to emulate. Just like you. And you know there's one more similarity. Despite everything that's happened and no matter what may happen, just like with you, I'm happy I met you both."
He felt her fur brush against his as she leaned to the left, then the weight of her shoulder. He was briefly reminded of how soft her tail had felt wrapped around his, but then quickly pushed the thought from his mind. Her face told him she had just had some kind of internal epiphany, what kind it was he couldn't guess. "Thanks hotshot. Do you…"
She paused, hesitant to continue. When she opened her mouth to speak again, it was drowned out by a shout from below. Kaden. "RATCHET! CAN YOU COME DOWN AND GIVE ME A HAND?"
"Yeah! Just a minute!" He shouted back then turned back to Rivet. "What were you gonna ask?"
She shook her head and pulled herself away from him again. Some part of him was saying he had just missed a moment, but for what he couldn't be sure. "Nevermind, it wasn't important anyway. You should go help your dad. You two have plenty more to talk about I think."
He nodded in response and stood up. She did too, if only just to see him off. Right before he turned to descend the incline though he remembered another reason he had come up to talk to her. He fished in his pocket for a few moments before retrieving his goal.
"Before I go down, I want you to have this." He produced Alister's pocket watch in an outstretched hand. She looked from it to him incredulously.
"Ratchet… I can't take that."
"You can, and you will." He grabbed her left hand and opened it, placing the watch into it. "I have my memories to get me by, and if I ever want to see it again, all I have to do is ask. Not like you'll ever be that far away, right?"
He took his hands away from hers and she looked down at the watch before clicking it open. He looked away and rubbed his head. "I know the picture may end up looking different from your version of him, but I hope it can still-"
He was interrupted by a hand grabbing his shoulder, but before he could turn and see what she wanted, he was frozen in place by her doing one of the last things he could have ever expected.
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
His eyes went wide and his limbs straight. In that moment he truly understood why characters in his cartoons as a kid sometimes had steam shoot out their ears as a wave of heat washed over him. She held him there for a few seconds, and there was nowhere else in the universe he thought he would rather be in that exact moment. When she released him, he was pretty sure she had shaved ten years off his life with how fast his heart was beating.
"Thank you, Ratchet. For everything." She let him go and he stumbled back in a daze, not sure what to do with his hands… or feet… or body in general for that matter. Who was he again? Was this really his body that had just happened to? When he rediscovered his self awareness, he panicked and started backing up while giving her finger guns, not sure of what else to do.
"Haha, uh, no problem! Ha, anytime!" Kaden called for him again from below and he backed towards the edge a bit more. "I'll just uhh, go-uh-go help him."
She giggled at his behavior and he couldn't stop the second out of body experience that the lovely sound caused. What returned him to his body was a sudden falling sensation, the rocks beneath one of his feet giving way as he fell down to the landing below. After he landed he simply laid there on his back, not moving. He heard Rivet call his name from above and saw her head pop over the edge to look and see if he was ok. He gave her a nervous smile and a thumbs up. She laughed at him and shook her head, retreating out of view. "Go help your dad already you goof."
"Whatever you say." He said mostly to himself, and finally dragged himself from the dirt and down the cliff. He found his father in the garage with both ships already mostly disassembled and shoving a metal rod into the back of Aphelion, right alongside the engine. He marveled at how much the older lombax was able to get done in such a short amount of time. Kaden noticed him after a few seconds and beckoned him over.
"Pull on this. It looks like one of the support mounts broke and is blocking me from taking the engine out." He told him while showing how he should pull on the rod. Ratchet nodded and complied, pulling back on the rod while Kaden manipulated a large magnetic selector over their head, using it to gently pull the engine out past the support that Ratchet was holding back.
Once it was free, he put it down some ways away and Ratchet took out the rod and gazed down the hole in the frame where the engine used to be. He immediately saw the offending support and leaned in to start fixing it. "I didn't even know that the engine could come out that easy!" He called behind him.
Kaden glanced up from the engine, having already started diagnosing it. "Most lombax ships are designed to be modular and easily repairable if you know what you're doing. You just have to know what parts to disconnect and what direction to pull. I'll show you over here."
He brought Ratchet over to the rear of Periapsis and started to show him which couplings to detach and bolts to take out, all the while explaining more of the technicals that he had always wondered about but never had anyone to ask. Once he had been shown what he needed to do, he set to it with gusto and dove (metaphorically) head first into the engine, vaguely aware of Kaden watching from over his shoulder while he sat on some nearby boxes.
"So." Kaden started from behind him. "Ratchet is an… interesting name."
"Uh, yeah. Sorry it's not the name you and mom picked out for me."
Kaden shook his head. "Maybe not, but it's your name. My son's name. I'll get used to it. And at least it wasn't something ridiculous like Leslie. How did you end up getting named after a tool though?"
"Grim decided on it. He said he had no idea what my name was when you dropped me off and no clue how to give me one that other lombaxes would approve of. Then one day he walked in while I was playing around with his tools and the only one I wouldn't give back to him was a ratchet. So he said if I liked the dang thing so much, I might as well be named after it. After that, it just sorta stuck."
Kaden laughed at the story, deep and throaty. "Well, I suppose being named after a tool is somewhat fitting for a member of the most renowned engineers in the universe."
A loaded silence settled on the garage. Ratchet could feel it, they both had so many questions to ask, but no idea where to start. How do you summarize over twenty years of life to someone? How do you ask about the life you could have had in another time and another place? Finally, like before, Kaden broke the silence.
"Do you mind if I ask you how Alister died?" The question made Ratchet hit his head inside the engine compartment. He turned while rubbing the spot he had hurt.
"How did you...?" Kaden responded by reaching behind him and pulling out Alister's double headed omniwrench. Ratchet mentally berated himself. Of course he was going to find that, how could he not!? He sighed and resigned himself to telling the story while he worked.
He abbreviated some parts, keeping it more geared towards the end of the journey and what had brought them there. When he was done, Kaden sat there, silent and staring down at the omniwrench in his hands. "What a bittersweet day this is. Finally reunited with my son after twenty three years and I find out that my theories on the great clock were actually true, only to find out from one that my best friend died on the other. What did you do with him after?"
"I uhh, I don't know how lombaxes handle our dead, so I buried him on Fastoon in the court of Azimuth. I try to visit him once a year."
"A more fitting place than you know." Kaden said, when Ratchet looked back at him he elaborated. "There are catacombs beneath the court that have his ancestors in them. Azimuth is an old name among lombaxes, dating back to the pre-spaceflight era. And up until recently, it was also highly revered. His ship and armor?"
"Both in the galactic museum. The armor was too big for me to use, and his ship refused to even turn on for me. Same with the wrench."
"Because they're biocoded, all praetorian equipment is. They'll only work for Alister and designated individuals. He must not have added you before he died." Kaden's fingers closed around the haft of the weapon and it activated as he did, the prongs on either end crackling with energy. Ratchet tapped down the anxiety that rose in his chest from the sight. Kaden shook his head as it hummed. "The utter fool. Do you know what the last thing I said to him was?"
Ratchet cocked his head to the side, curious.
"I said I never wanted to see him again. I shouted and ranted and raved with you cradled in my arms outside the burning husk of my home. I blamed him for everything in my anger and grief. That was the last time I ever saw him, and it hurts to think that it will always be that way."
"He still called you his best friend when he described you to me if that makes you feel any better."
"It doesn't."
"..."
"..."
"Can I ask you about mom?" Kaden finally looked away from the wrench in his hands and up to him, letting the energy die before he propped it up on the box he was sitting on. He had a somber grin as he thought about her.
"Her name was Arneesa, but I always called her My Starlight. She had off-white fur and brown stripes, and she was just a hair taller than me. But if you asked her I was ant sized compared to her." He chuckled to himself, lost in memory. "She lit up every room she was in, brighter than any star. Hence the nickname. And she loved you, so, so much. When we found out she was pregnant she practically paraded through the streets, dancing from street corner to street corner. I had to chase her down to get her to come home."
"I wish I could have met her." Ratchet found himself saying.
"I'm sorry you couldn't. There isn't much I wouldn't give to see her smile one more time. She would be so proud of you, I want you to know that. Same as me."
"Not to sound ungrateful, but do you know enough about what I've done to be proud of me?"
"You're my son, Arneesa's son. That's all I have to know. And she would feel the same. If anything, this feeling I have in my chest right now, this pride in who you are, the man you have become, will only grow with time. And I plan to let that feeling grow. To never let you go, ever again."
"I'd like that. Dad." They locked eyes and smiled at each other for a time before Kaden's PDA chimed, drawing his attention. He pulled it out and looked at the report he had received.
"Looks like we've got a hit on our search. Let's finish these ships up and go have a look, yeah?"
"Maybe I'll lend a hand with that then!" Both turned and saw Rivet striding into the hangar, calm and refined. "The faster we get this done, the better."
Between the three of them, they soon had both ships picked to pieces, fully serviced and then reassembled. Thanks to Kaden's knowledge it only took a few hours and not the days it would have taken without him. They then went back into the hideout and over to the computer, everyone eager to find out where the bots had been taken. Kaden sat down and looked through the report.
"Looks like they've been taken to Tyhrranosis."
"Where is that?" Rivet asked and Ratchet answered.
"It's a planet here in Solana. But I thought the Tyhrranoids didn't let outsiders on their homeworld?"
"They don't. The benevolent empress wiped out the species when they wouldn't surrender to her rule unconditionally. After that she turned it into a fortress world. Now it's the most heavily protected place in the galaxy, and according to this the garrison just got doubled too. There is something else out of the ordinary too. The message that the system flagged for their location wasn't encrypted."
"Well, that sounds like a trap if I've ever heard one." Rivet said. Kaden stood up and walked over to a bare wall.
"Then we'll just make sure we outgun the trap." He said, then tapped a few commands on his PDA, making a hidden panel recede and reveal a weapons closet, lined in deadly and loaded munitions. The younger lombaxes rushed in and danced between the racks like kids in a candy store, their eyes sparkling.
"I don't recognize half of these!" Ratchet called out from the back, gliding his hands over a rack of sniper rifles of varying caliber.
"That's because they're lombax weapons I rebuilt from memory. Once upon a time these were used to push the cragmites back to Reepor, and now we'll use 'em to do it again." He said from behind them. "Load up, and let's show the universe the kind of destruction only three lombaxes can do."
They all stocked up on every gun their digital armories could hold, the younger two chomping at the bit for the moment when they could finally put them to good use. Then it was off to the ships so they could all be on their way. Kaden asked to be allowed to ride with Ratchet, just the two of them, so they could keep talking and continue their conversations from earlier. Rivet was clearly a little saddened by this, but understood why he wanted to do it. So they piled in, did some preflight checks and took off, Kaden's ship in tow.
Ratchet used the manual controls to take them up through the atmosphere. He was surprised at how snappy and responsive they were now. It was practically like she was brand new to him! Apparently a little tune up could do a world of good.
Kaden let him pilot until they were up in orbit, seemingly content to sit and watch him work. When he laid in the course for Tyhrranosis and let the autopilot take over, Kaden finally spoke.
"Do you mind if I put my feet up? Long flights aren't as easy on the joints as they used to be." He asked while Ratchet was double checking trajectories.
"Huh? Oh, yeah sure. Just be careful not to hit any switches."
He nodded and leaned the seat back a bit before throwing his feet up on the dash, relaxing like it was his ship to begin with. Once he was nice and comfy, he spoke again.
"So… Rivet's a nice girl."
Ratchet froze mid motion before he shook his head and continued what he was doing. I don't like where this is going. He thought to himself.
"What do you mean?" He asked as calmly as possible, trying not to give away how much he was panicking inside.
"I'm just saying, I'm happy you found someone like her to be with."
Ratchet's eyes went wide and his mouth started sputtering nonsensical sounds as it dried out. It took him a few moments to recover. "Rivet and I- We aren't… like that."
Kaden's eyebrow raised. "Really? You honestly could've fooled me with that kiss in the starlight."
Ratchet almost dropped the ship out of jump, he gripped the controls so hard. "You saw that?"
Kaden nodded. "Yes I did. I was going to ask for that pocket watch, but it's fine where it is."
"Well, it was just on the cheek. There wasn't anything more to it." Speaking of cheeks, his felt really hot all of a sudden.
"Son, I've only ever been kissed on the cheek by two people. One was my mother and the other was yours."
"Well, that's your experience and doesn't mean the same thing for me."
Kaden stared at him in profile for a few seconds. "You just had a rough break up, didn't you?"
"Wha!? How did you-?"
"I can tell by the look on your face."
"Really?" He asked in disbelief.
"No. I was defragging the data stores when I found Aphelion's flight records. They show you going back and forth between your home and one of someone named Talwyn, spending nights or sometimes even days there before leaving. Then a few months ago, a month or so before the dimension incident, they suddenly stop."
"Even if that's true, that has nothing to do with me and Rivet. It happened before I even met her."
"And did you ever think that maybe there's a reason that it happened?"
"I know the reason it happened." He didn't continue immediately, but he saw his father waiting for an explanation. He let out a hard sigh. "We wanted different things, that's what it came down to."
"Different how?"
Ratchet's hand went to the back of his head. Much more and he'd have a bald spot soon. "I-uh." He sighed. "I've spent my entire adult life fighting one villain after another. Ever since I left Veldin all those years ago, it's like the entire universe always has one more crisis to throw at me. And for a long time I was ok with that. I was happy to always have that 'next great adventure.' Then, after what happened with Alister, I found myself wanting something else. Maybe it was the realization of what I could have had, but I realized that I was actually trying to make the universe a place that didn't need me, so I could finally just leave things be and maybe one day have the family I didn't have as a kid."
"And she didn't want that?" He wasn't being critical, he seemed to really want to understand what had happened.
"Not really. Talwyn is the kind of person who's always looking for the next adventure, the next big threat. People like that are important, sure, but it wasn't what I wanted anymore. It… made things tense between us, and we argued a lot towards the end."
"People just want different things sometimes. That you can acknowledge that is a sign of your maturity." Kaden told him.
"Thanks. I think we can go back to being friends at some point, but unless one of us changes what we want from the future, I don't see us getting back together."
"Then you're single and are galavanting around the universe with a lovely, brave young lombax. That sounds like a recipe for romance to me." He pointed out. Ratchet was ready to bounce his head off the flight controls until he knew he'd forget about this whole conversation.
"That sounds like a recipe to make a good friend, and it's a recipe I'm familiar with. I'm not about to risk that for something like my feelings." Ratchet responded off the cuff before realizing what he had just said. Before he could attempt damage control, Kaden immediately latched onto it.
"So you already know you like her?"
Now Ratchet really did hit his head off the controls. The jig is up. He sighed internally. Maybe it actually would be better if I talked it over with someone. I haven't told Clank yet after all.
"Yes." He admitted quietly. "This stays between us, got it?"
Kaden raised his hands in surrender.
"I realized it a while ago-"
"In the middle of a firefight?"
"I'm not even going to ask how you know things anymore. I didn't know my dad was a mind reader."
"I'm not, but I am your father. And you know what they say, like father like son." He said with some measure of pride in his voice. "Also when she stared me down earlier I saw the death of entire armies in her eyes, and I'll admit I flashed back a bit to the look in your mother's eyes when she fought."
Ratchet continued, letting the flood gates open now. "I saw how amazing she was in a fight, and it kind of spiraled out of control in my head. I realized how amazing she was in general and how much I liked being near her, especially when it was just the two of us. All of a sudden it was like everything she did, every move she made was different to me and I was noticing different things. It wasn't just how hard she swung her hammer now, it was how powerful her arms were. It wasn't just how fast she ran, but how she ran and the sway of her hips and tail. It wasn't just her smile, it was her laugh and the things that made it happen. I saw it all and I couldn't get enough. I still can't."
"Pardon me, but that sounds a whole lot more like love than just a simple crush. You really want to give up the chance to be with the girl you love?"
"If it means she stays a part of my life? Absolutely."
"Can you be sure that's what you're doing by bottling it in though?" Ratchet looked over at his father confused. "I will say, I'm not advocating for you to leap headfirst into a relationship with her if that's not what either of you want. Rather, I want you two to talk about it. If she really means that much to you, and you mean half as much to her, then you both deserve the opportunity to hash it out and see where you land. If you bottle it up then it will only build up and become pain in the end.
"Maybe it's more obvious from the outside of your little duo, but it's clear you two share a special connection. Kindred souls separated by a barrier in time and space. And if there's one thing
I've learned in all my time, there are no accidents. I don't know if fate exists, but I do know that the universe seems to almost have a will of its own that we can't even begin to understand. For whatever reason, for whatever eventuality it leads to, it put you two together. So I think it best if you stay that way, no matter what form that may take."
"So I should just tell her? Find some way to say 'I love you Rivet' without burning that bridge forever?" He felt like his heart might burst just from having said it in a hypothetical.
"I wouldn't lead with it, but yes. Just don't wait too long."
"You want me to say it in the middle of a mission?" He said incredulously.
"Adrenaline is a wondrous drug that can make something like that happen, but no. It can wait til the empress is dealt with. Can't have you two start making out right in the middle of a battle field anyway."
"Dad." Ratchet warned and the older lombax raised his hands again.
"Sorry, sorry. That was my last jab I promise."
"Do you…" Ratchet started, before stopping to really think over what he was about to ask. Stealing his resolve, he barreled through his hesitancy. "Do you really think that she feels the same?"
"I think the universe will always surprise you in the most unexpected ways. And that the best way to find out is gonna be to ask her yourself." Ratchet nodded to himself, knowing his dad was right. Nobody was going to know what was going on inside Rivet's head better than her.
"Alright then. Once we save the multiverse again, I'll talk to her. I promise."
The smile on Kaden's face was filled with pride and mirth. "Good. Now, why don't you tell me about this Clank character we're about to go save? He must be quite special to earn a position as your best friend."
Minutes earlier, in orbit over Veldin:
Rivet finished locking her course with Aphelion's and double checked that Kaden's ship, the Arneesa, was locked onto it as well. She looked out the window at Aphelion floating in front of her and wondered what stories were getting shared inside. She felt left out, but at the same time the two of them had so much catching up to do and no doubt wanted to discuss certain things best kept private.
So while it hurt her to be excluded like this, she understood why they wanted it. That and I wouldn't mind spending more time with Ratchet right now. That dumb lombax just had to come up and see me like that, all vulnerable.
She flashed back to earlier on the ground, sitting next to Ratchet as he told her in no uncertain terms that he didn't regret meeting her, that he wouldn't regret meeting her in spite of her father and what he had done to him. The warm sensation in her gut spreading as he helped ground her to the reality she had slowly been separating herself from with the hurricane of errant thoughts that had been running in her head ever since Kaden had said 'your father, Alister.'
She remembered the feeling as he took that box she had been cramming those feelings of affection in and broke it wide open, spilling them all over her like a torrential rain, drowning her in an unfamiliar fuzziness that turned to electricity when she touched her shoulder to his.
She remembered the exact moment that she realized it was hopeless. She was dumbstruck, knockout, flatout in love with him. And now there was no going back.
"Now, I just have to find out if he feels the same, or if I'm doomed to pine from afar. Gah, I sound like a bad poet." She lamented when Periapsis piped up.
"Incoming communication from friendly ship designation Aphelion. Audio call, one way."
Her brow furrowed. One way? Why? "Accepted."
The speakers hummed for a moment before she heard Kaden's voice come through.
"So… Rivet's a nice girl."
