Chapter 8: Holding On and Letting Go
Ratchet looked at Talwyn for a moment.
"It's me." He said. "Ratchet; your fiancé."
Talwyn shook her head. "I'm not engaged, I haven't even dated anyone yet. I'm still waiting for my father to come back."
Ratchet looked at his fiancée, wondering why she couldn't remember him.
"Sorry, my mistake." Ratchet said, and walked out of the room.
"Can you guys keep an eye on her for me?" Ratchet asked Cronk and Zephyr. Both war bots nodded their heads and stood at attention. Both of them were well past their prime, but these two had Ratchet's back in many adventures, and he theirs. Ratchet found Talwyn's doctor and asked about her injury.
"A moderate closed head injury." He started. "The impact with the concrete caused her brain to rattle around in the skull a bit. She's lost her short-term memory and some of her long-term memories as well. She has no recollection of what happened to her up until two and a half years ago." Ratchet thought back that far. He was only a few days away from meeting her at that point.
"How long until her memory returns?" Ratchet asked.
"I don't know." The doctor said, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. "I could do some more surgery, but in trying to restore her memory I could possibly injure her brain even more. The possibility of her memory returning on its own is slim, at best. And even if it did, there is an almost certainty that it won't return completely." Ratchet shook his head glumly and started walking out of the hospital. Clank and Quark called after him.
"Guys, I really want to be alone right now." He told them, not even turning around. He started walking again and took the elevator down. He started looking at the street signs and found what he was looking for. Using the walkways, a few minutes later, he found the building; a bar.
Walking in, he absent-mindedly sat down at the bar and didn't even realize who he had sat next to.
"You had a crappy day too, huh?" Ratchet heard the person on his left ask him. Looking out the corner of his eye, Ratchet saw Spyro, a big pitcher of a dark liquid sitting in front of him.
"Yeah" Ratchet said, and then waved the bar tender over. "Give me the strongest thing you have in the biggest glass possible." Ratchet told him. Ratchet didn't drink often, but he just wanted to forget the entire day, no matter the cost. The bartender looked at him warily, but did as he instructed. After he finished giving Ratchet his drink, Spyro told him to give them two shots. The bartender obeyed, and filled two small glasses. Both Ratchet and Spyro raised their glasses in salute to each other, and downed the entire contents. Spyro finished his pitcher.
"I'll see you around." He said sadly. Ratchet nodded his head dumbly. Ratchet continued drinking the entire night, and was drunk long before he even realized it. He stumbled out of the bar and crashed into an older Lombax woman.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She screamed at him. Ratchet waved her off, and kept walking. He found a bench and sat on it, holding his stomach as it started to rumble dangerously. His eyes bulged and he lurched forward, vomiting up all the alcohol he had consumed. He leaned back and heard a young Lombax calling him.
He looked and saw it was the same one that had tried to get him to go down the alley with her when Talwyn crashed.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Ratchet shook his head weakly. She pulled out a flashlight. Lifting his eyelid up, she swept the flashlight back and forth, in and out of Ratchet's vision. "Boy, are you hammered." She said. She draped one arm over her back and half carried, half dragged him to her apartment. She laid him on the couch and covered him with a blanket. She sat in her plush chair opposite of him, and watched him as he slept.
A small shadow moved in her room, and a nasty creature emerged. It had two small red horns on either side of its silver head, and walked on its six bug-like legs. His yellow eyes burned with an unquenchable revenge. A relatively fresh scar, about two years old, ran down from the left side of his face down to his right. His hands picked up the letter opener that the young Lombax woman had. As he raised to plunge it into Ratchet's heart, the creature heard her speak.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Tachyon." She said. Tachyon looked at her.
"Are you telling me what to do?" He questioned her dangerously.
"And are you forgetting who the two Lombaxes were that hid you from all of us? You know as well as I do that you would be killed on sight. Unless you want your existence known, you will obey both me and my legal guardian." She said.
Tachyon put the letter opener down.
"I'm not sorry for killing your parents, no more than I am for killing his." Tachyon said, point a finger at Ratchet. "You're lucky that any Lombax was willing to take you in."
"None of the sass." The young Lombax said.
"Yes mama Kayla." Tachyon said before scuttling back to his hiding place.
Meanwhile…
Spyro was outside Cynder's room, pacing back and forth. He ran scenario after scenario in his head about how many ways breaking the news to Cynder could go wrong. After another scenario played out in his head, and a stream of curses, Spyro inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and entered Cynder's room.
"What's wrong?" She asked. Her health had improved greatly since giving birth, already starting to walk around her room every now and then. Spyro put his paws on the side of her bed and looked her in the eye. He explained everything the nurse had told him; the pressure on the eggs and her uterus, the possibility of deformities, stillbirths, and even maybe not being able to have another clutch. Cynder's face slowly creased into a sad scowl, and even a few tears pushed their way out from her rapidly blinking eyes.
"I'm sorry." Spyro said.
"No" Cynder said. "There is always hope. What did the chronicler say? 'Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope. But sometimes fear clouds our vision, sometimes our strength gives out, and other times when all seems lost, a light shines through the darkness; and we are reminded that even the smallest amount of courage can turn the tides of war.' Our eggs will hatch, they will be perfectly fine, and we will have another clutch. I know this because I believe in it."
Spyro smiled weakly; Cynder had a fiery spirit that was impossible to extinguish.
"Sometimes I wish I was more like you." Spyro said. The two dragons nuzzled necks, and fell asleep, waiting and hoping for good news.
The next morning…
Ratchet woke up, his head feeling like it had been split down the middle and acid had been poured in, and yet he didn't die. He groaned as he sat up, and looked around. He was in an apartment that he didn't recognize, and lying on the couch. He heard the shower running, and as he placed his feet on the floor, he heard it turn off. He held his breath, and for a few minutes nothing happened. As he stood up, his stomach rumbled. Searching for the kitchen, he found pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and every type of breakfast food imaginable. In the middle of the table was a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice.
"You're up." Ratchet heard someone say. Turning around, he saw the young Lombax woman. Her fur was still a little wet, and she had a plush pink bathrobe on.
"Yeah, I don't think we've been properly introduced; I'm Ratchet." Ratchet said, sticking out his hand.
"Kayla." The young Lombax woman said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"So, this all for you?" Ratchet question, referring to the table of food.
"Of course not." She chuckled "It's for you too."
Ratchet smiled, found a plate and a glass, poured some of the orange juice, and piled on the food. He hadn't eaten for nearly a day and was ravenous.
"Thanks for breakfast." Ratchet said.
"You're welcome." Kayla said.
"You're the one who found Talwyn, right?" Ratchet asked.
"Yeah, I did." Kayla said, the fight she had flashing in her mind. "I've never seen someone hit their head so hard from a fall. Did the doctor say if her memory would return?"
"He said the chances were low, and even it did return, it wouldn't return completely." Ratchet said.
"Wow. How long were you two together?" Kayla asked.
"Almost two years." Ratchet said.
"Two years of love, lost." Kayla said miserably. "I'm really sorry." She said, placing her hand on Ratchet's.
Ratchet looked at Kayla's hand, and moved his hand so the hands were palm to palm, and then their fingers interlocked. Looking each other in the eye, both moved closer to each other, and eventually their lips touched. Kayla's eyes closed in happiness; stage two was complete.
P.M.- Sorry for the late update guys; School started back up and I'm swamped with homework. Note that I will still be updating, though probably not as often. Just bear with me.