Realization

Ratchet was in his room at the cabana once again. He was sitting on his and Talwyn's bed, and its covers were still strewn about from the horror movie incident late last night. And as a matter of the present, it was late in this night too. It was 10:32 to be exact. No one else was in bed, in fact, everyone was downstairs doing something that was a little noisy, but not so enough to disturb the Lombax from his thoughts. His thoughts were ones of great guilt and angst. He had single handedly left his own nephew to fend for himself with nothing more to work with than his own coordination and wits. And when you're a one year old Lombax, that was a pretty powerless thing to be. Ratchet sat out on the bed until he got hot. After this, he simply solved the problem by walking out onto the balcony. He had been holding his Omniwrench the whole time. He looked at the shine that still lingered from the day he bought it. But, he also noticed the scuffs. Some hero he was. He threw the tool toward the horizon, but he knew it wouldn't get far. Below him was the warm, tropical water of Planet Pokitaru, and rocks positioned on the edge of the cabana, as to not let waves crash into the side of the building. He watched as the tool cascaded down fifteen cubits to the surface of the ocean. It made a small splash, and was gone instantly. Ratchet sighed. Goodbye.

There was a breeze that allowed Ratchet to relax a little bit. It ruffled his fur a little bit, and Ratchet came close to purring, but he stopped himself. Instead, he simply allowed the gusts of wind weave in and out of the hairs on his body. The lombax was topless, but was still covered by his jeans from the thighs down. The wind was quite the sensation, and decided to let himself stretch. Mmmm…

A few minutes later, Talwyn entered the room. The sound of her walking in snapped Ratchet out of his trance with the wind, and Ratchet once again felt the pain of his angst. Not that it was her fault, though.

"Hey, Ratchet," She said. "There's a live hoverbike holo-vision tournament going on downstairs. Don't you wanna watch it?"

Ratchet was excited for a few seconds, but his guilt got the better of him. "No," He replied. "I don't."

This shocked Talwyn. Ratchet loved hoverbikes. He had his own at a garage on another planet, and he used to race it all the time. Nowadays, since they came out with the game, he's been playing that a lot. And, now that there just so happened to be a live hoverbike race that was going on the final hotel bill as Pay-Per-View, he was saying no. She put her hand on her hip, and said, "Okay, what's going on?"

Ratchet tried to act like there was no problem, so Talwyn wouldn't worry. "No," He said. "I just… well… it's just that… I… oh, I give up. Talwyn, I just can't believe that I left my nephew at the space station alone as bait in clear water for Vorselon's troops. I… I just can't believe it."

Ratchet put his head down on the railing around the edge of the square balcony, and he silently started to sob. He was a little embarrassed, however. Ratchet instantly thought that the two hundred fifty-thousand bolts he had spent on a bonding ring were all wasted. Some hero he was.

"Stop it," Talwyn said, surprised at the Lombax's pathetic act. "You're the hero of the galaxy, check that, the OMNIVERSE. And here you sit, crying over something that never happened? The death of someone is inevitable. And, even if that did happen, you would kill Vorselon more inhumanely than with that lousy RYNO that you keep packed in your manifestor."

"Well," Ratchet said. "I'm not worried about what would have happened, I guess. It's that I'm worried about Justin being worried."

"Well," Talwyn said in return. "He is not watching a tournament of the sport he loves the most. He's up in his room. He says he wants to be alone. And Ratchet, no one that was important to us died. And you know, there's gonna be other bad guys out there, and there's gonna be other times when you think you can't beat him. But you can. Because there's always someone who's going to be by your side the whole time. And that someone and you are gonna make sure that there will be no deaths on your watch. You'll make sure that the villain will be stopped. And, the worst case scenario is that I'm wrong, and you beat the life right out of him."

Ratchet looked up from the railing, and his eyes once again met the sky. Talwyn was absolutely right. And even if someone did die, he would still always have the rest of his friends and family. Ratchet turned to her and said, "Yer right Tal. Yer always right." With that, Ratchet climbed up onto the railing. Talwyn stepped back. What would happen? But, before she could guess, Ratchet leaped off, into the air, and started falling toward the waves of the ocean. Talwyn ran toward the railing, and grabbed the edge to keep from falling off. She saw Ratchet in a diving position as he plummeted further toward the water. Eventually, He hit the water, and created a small splash. Talwyn began to walk out of the room and down the stairs. That crazy Lombax. She thought.

Ratchet had not gone crazy. He had simply gone to retrieve his once abandoned Omniwrench. As he fell through the air, he once again felt the breeze tugging him to the right a little bit. He enjoyed the feeling once again through his now happy body. But it died instantly when he hit the water, but it wasn't a burden. In fact, it was the lovely feeling of his fur silently sashaying through the water. He was almost immediately ten feet under, and he was one happy Lombax. With his breath held, (he had on no armor, so therefore, he had no O2 mask on) he searched the area of the sand below him until he saw the faint gleam of titanium reflect off the distant sun above it. Ratchet swam down further to get to it, and he began to lightly dust away the sand that it was buried in. Sure enough, he had soon uncovered the handle of the wrench. Ratchet lightly grinned, wrapped his fingers around the wet grip that was attached to the handle, once again feeling the elasticity and squishiness between his fingers, he gave a good yank. The tool came free. Sending many particles of tiny rock along with it. They slowly came down on top of Ratchet's skin beneath his fur. It slightly tickled and tingled his body. Ratchet smiled as he held the Omniwrench Millennium 12k above his head. He then realized that his air in his lungs was running low. He began to swim toward the surface. He could see the waves thirty feet above him. He quickly kicked his feet alternating. He was back. And it felt good.

Ratchet sat on the sand of the beach that surrounded the front side of the cabana, wet, but content. His legs were in an upside down V position, with his arms crossed over them. His elbows were just laying on the top of his knees, and his Omniwrench was clenched between his right fist, which was really on the left side of his body. It was as wet as Ratchet, and yet even though the water that could easily rust the titanium over time, it added a nice gleam to the already shining metal tool. Ratchet's eyes were closed, and he was slightly looking to the sky with his muzzle in the air. He could smell the water on him, and the water that surrounded him for millions of square kilocubits. It was all peaceful. There were no boats or transport hovercrafts to disturb the depths, only the wind to slightly churn it. The smells filled the nostrils of the Lombax, who was more complacent than any other Cazar, Fongoid, or Markazian for that matter in the Omniverse. But, he heard footsteps behind him, and the smell of Talwyn's skin, being spicy and exotic like all Markazian's skin, began to linger around his nose. He slightly chuckled, and said, "Good evening, Miss Apogee."

"Hello, Ratchet," She said in return. "And yes, it is."

She sat next to him on the sand, and Ratchet turned his head. She was not dressed in her armor. In fact, she was dressed in a casual outfit that Ratchet had never seen before. It consisted of a green top, and to Ratchet's surprise, jeans that were as dark blue as Ratchet's were when he bought them on Kerwan. Ratchet eyed it, and he must have been caught, because Talwyn said, "What? I hope you didn't expect me to wear the stuffy armor the whole time we were here. Besides, I think I prefer this outfit."

They both sat, wondering which one would speak next. They both decided who would go first at the exact same time.

Ratchet said, "I'm sorry I was such a…"

At the same time as Talwyn said, "You had a right to be…"

"You go first," Talwyn said.

"I'm sorry I was such a jerk. To you… to myself… to Justin… to everyone. It was a real stupid reason to feel angst. There was no chance of it happening in the first place. There wasn't any real danger."

Talwyn didn't reply. She simply put her head on top of Ratchet's shoulder, and began to stroke the fur on his back. Ratchet stretched. He loved to have his fur petted. It was a nice feeling that slightly scratched his skin. He smiled again.

They still sat, staring into the deep orange sunset sky as the natural causes of the sun took play. Being on Pokitaru however, it took a relatively longer time for the sun to go down over the horizon. The water was almost perfectly teal. Ratchet looked over. Talwyn was just taking a large breath as to smell the air around her. Ratchet then remembered all of the things that she had done for him in the past. She had pretty much rescued him from the Demensionator several times, done the deed of saving when he was backed up by full grown cragmites, and of course, saved his tail when he was flailing through space with Justin and Clank. Those were things that she had done that no one really looked back on. Ratchet had to look back now. After all, it was now or never.

"Thank you," Ratchet said.

"For what?" Talwyn replied in return.

"For everything. I mean, you saved me from the Demensionator, helped defeat Tachyon and the cragmites, and most of all, space is not the place you want to fall into. After all, it's all my fault that they were never looked back on." Talwyn didn't really react. Well, not the way Ratchet was hoping, but she kissed him lightly on the side of his muzzle. Ratchet felt a slight bolt of static electricity go through his fur. Ratchet slightly slid down on the sand, almost stunned, but he really didn't want to deny what just happened a few seconds ago. He felt something square in the back pocket of his jeans. Oh, my God! He remembered. The ring! Ratchet instantly pulled the leather box out of the pants, and opened it. Sure enough, there it was, as gleaming as ever. Ratchet just remembered who he was sitting in front of. He turned, opened his mouth to speak, but before anything got out, Talwyn put a hand up, silencing him. Then she said, "Do you really think that you have to ask?" Then she leaned over, and kissed him. Ratchet's eyes jolted open, surprised at the fact that it had all happened so fast. He slightly held them open for a few seconds, and then once he realized what was happening, he finally closed them, cherishing the moment as the world around him vanished.