"Come on…" Cally mutters with a frown, covered in grease as she lies on a mechanic's roller under a customer's sand cruiser in her Veldin garage, changing its oil.
Or, trying to, at least.
"Just… A little… More…" She groans, using a wrench to loosen an incredibly tight nut, always thanks to sand somehow getting in the threads, just like how it was for ships back on Fastoon.
She gives one more strong pull, and thankfully, the nut finally gives as the wrench slips off—continuing to spin off the thread until it becomes free from the bolt, and letting land right onto her face.
"Ow!" She winces in frustration as it bounces off her cheek, prompting her to lightly hit the oil pan with her wrench in petty revenge, giving off a small metallic ring. "Bastard."
But as she rubs her cheek, she looks back at the wrench, and realizing that with how stuck the rest of these nuts were and how likely it was to have them fall on her face again, she needs a better tool right now.
Exhaling a breath, she simply sticks her arm out from under the ship floating on the anti-grav jacks, reaching out for the toolbox as she haphazardly throws the wrench back into it, and fishing for the one she needs.
"Where are you, ratchet?" She mutters, trying to fish for said tool by touch alone, sticking her tongue out of her mouth as she feels around, feeling screwdrivers, more wrenches, a hammer, but no ratchets.
"Goddammit, did I leave it on the workbench again?" She groans, retracting her hand from the toolbox after failing to find her prize. "I thought I put it back, where—"
But as she starts to roll back out from the under the ship, she starts to hear the distinct sound of her ratchet being spun, and joined alongside the telltale giggle of what she knew to be its regular thief.
She stands up from the roller, and walks around from the front of the ship to follow the noise, and confirming her suspicion, sees little baby Kipler playing with the Ratchet in his hands, giggling at the noise it made when he spun it around, and not in the fenced-off play area she kept in the corner of the garage so she could always keep an eye on him while she was working.
And even though it posed an inconvenience—just as it always did whenever he stole her tools whenever she was working—it never failed to make her heart melt at the cute sight, prompting her to giggle a bit alongside him as she walks over to him.
"Of course it's you, my little kleptomaniac." She says as she bends down with a smile to pick up both the baby and the tool. "Why is it always my ratchet, huh? You've got a whole toolbox at your disposal, but it's always that one. Do you just like the sound, Kip?"
Cally then cradles him in one arm while using the other to spin the toolhead of the ratchet, making it click the mechanism inside, prompting more giggling from the baby as he holds onto it.
"Yep, seems like it." She chuckles, just standing there for a moment to gently rock him in her arms. "Maybe I should just call you Ratchet with how dedicated you are in breaking out of your play area in the corner to steal it, huh? You're just about as noisy as one whenever you get fussy, too, little mister." She says amusedly as she lightly pinches his little nose, making him laugh as he paws at her fingers with his little hand.
Cally was about to grab the tool out of his hands as she walked back over to the playpen, confiscating his illicitly-acquired toy and double-checking the gate several times before going to work as she always did the past dozen times this happened.
However, this time, she pauses for a moment, seeing him play with the tool (and lightly gumming it too), and considers just letting him have it as she gently takes the unsanitary thing out of his mouth. After all, whenever he breaks out of his pen, it's always to play with the ratchet, and with the work she's got to do today, she can't be constantly taking time to corral him back into the safe corner of the garage. So, if she just lets him have it, then theoretically, there'd be no reason for him to break out yet again—unless the mood just strikes him fancy.
Of course, she does need that ratchet to work on ships and whatnot… But then again, what is a ratchet if not a really fancy wrench, of which she has over a dozen? And besides, it seems that her little monster loved it more than she did, too.
"Hmm… Just wait here, Kipler." She says, leaning down to put him back in his pen while taking the tool out of his hands—making him immediately start to get fussy and reaching up to vainly try and grab it back from her as she chuckles. "Hold on, I'll be back, just give me a sec, okay?"
She ignores his pouting protests as she walks over to the sink in the garage, beginning to sterilize it of all the dirt and grease and oil it's seen in the last few months of this garage's operation since she came here, not wanting to be an even worse mother so as to let her child lick off sandy oil on top of having him grow up without his species.
But, after a minute or so of washing, she dries off the now shiny Ratchet, and walks back over to Kipler's play area, and bends down to hand it over to him, to which he gladly takes it out of her hand with a giggle, gnawing on it while spinning the mechanism to make the clicky sounds he loves.
Cally giggles as she watches her son play with the little tool, feeling her heart glow with a comfortable warmth, knowing that ever since the attack, her main goal in life was to give her child the happiest life she possibly can in spite of everything they lost. Everyone they lost.
And every single time she sees a smile on his fuzzy little face, and hears the bubbly sound of his laughter, they only served to prove to her that however tough it is to raise a child all by herself on an alien world while trying to stay afloat with a mechanic shop in the middle of nowhere, constantly living in stressful paranoia that Tachyon was going to come knocking on their door any day…
She was succeeding. She can do it. She will fulfill the promise she made to Kaden.
And as she thinks that, she stands back up, and looks back over to the workbench, to the framed picture that Kaden gave to her the last time she saw him, almost a whole year ago.
However, looking at that picture still brought her more pain than relief, the wounds still feeling fresh, it still not being a whole year yet since their last goodbye. Hell, the scars on her face suffered from their home collapsing had only recently just fully healed, and while she didn't really care about her new appearance, it still stung thinking about that one last good night they had together after Kaden had expertly tended them himself, making smalltalk and constantly asking if she was okay as he dressed her wounds.
But… As much as she'd like to stand here in the middle of the garage looking like an idiot as she took a dreary stroll down memory lane with the man she loved but would never see again, she had a business to run and a ship to fix.
So, she just takes a deep breath, shoving down any wayward feelings of wanting to cry at how unfair the universe was, and instead forces a small smile as she stares at Kaden's face in the picture.
"I hope I'm making you proud, Kay. I'm trying." Cally quietly tells the photo.
She stares at the picture for a few moments more, perhaps imagining Kaden giving a comforting response in her head, and then turns away to walk back to the ship on the anti-grav lift, ready to yell and curse even more at all these rusted-up bolts while Kipler plays with his favorite ratchet in the corner, echoing with his delighted giggles that told her why all this suffering was worth it.
"And then he was all like 'I'm going to get you, Captain Qwark!', and then he was like 'Not if I have anything to say about it, Vanquisher!' And then he took out his blaster and took him down and saved the day! It was so cool!"
Cally chuckles as she walks alongside Ratchet, the both of them holding boxes of scrap parts they were taking from the garage to the scrap pile on the back of the house as part of her monthly cleanup, all the while listening to him gush about his holovids and comics he's gotten into recently.
"I'm sure it was, Ratchet." She says with a smile as they walk along. "This Captain Qwark guy seems like he gets in a lot of adventures, huh?"
"Yeah, lots!" He replies enthusiastically, bobbing his head up and down with a smile, making his aviator cap slide around atop his head, still needing to grow into it a bit more just as Cally advised him when he decided to take it from a scrap pile during their last visit to Vic's junkyard. "He fights bad guys all the time, he can shoot guns really good, flies around the galaxy with his ship, and helps lots and lots of people to save the day, too!"
"He sounds a lot like your dad, then." Cally says amusedly.
"Wait, really?" Ratchet asks, looking up to her in wonder. "Dad was a hero? Like Captain Qwark?"
"He was. Probably the biggest hero I've ever known." Cally says warmly, staring ahead, past the scrap pile that was their destination.
"But… I haven't seen any shows or comics with dad in them, mom. Are you sure he's a hero?" He asks confusedly, tilting his head.
Cally chuckles again.
"Real heroes like your dad don't need fancy comics or games or holovids about them to be a hero, Ratchet." She says softly. "People who are popular like Captain Qwark or that Ace Hardling person you talk about sometimes just do it for money and fame—"
"Ace Hardlight, mom." Ratchet corrects her.
"Hardlight, sorry, honey." She clarifies with a roll of her eyes. "They sometimes do it for money or to be famous, even if they're good people, too. But then, there are people like your dad… They were heroes because all they want is to help people. To do the right thing, no matter what. Even if something is really scary, and they really didn't want to do it… People like your dad did it anyway. Because real heroes like them are brave, courageous, selfless, and never, ever give up."
"Huh." Ratchet mutters as they stop at the scrap pile, Cally dumping her box of parts onto the pile with loud clangs as gears, pipes, circuits, nuts, bolts, and dozens of other components get added onto the messy accumulation of scrap to be either used in future projects or to be sent to the junkyard for side money. "Well… Captain Qwark gets in crazy cool adventures and stuff all the time when he helps people. Did dad get in crazy adventures too?"
"Did he?" She replies with a laugh, turning back to him as he dumps his box of parts, too. "Oh, Kip, nearly everything with your dad was an adventure. If I had a bolt for every time he came home with some kind of cut or bruise or sometimes broken bone, we'd be rich enough to be able to live like the president! There was one time he limped through the door with a broken leg when he crashed on his hoverboots!"
"Woah, he rode hoverboots?" Ratchet asks in awe.
"He was probably the best flier on the planet. And you say your comic heroes and stuff shoot and fly really good, too, but your dad was something else. In fact, he was so good, he became the youngest General in our species' whole history." She tells him with a smile.
"Wow, he was a General? He got to tell armies what to do and stuff?"
"Technically, yeah! Although, your dad never really did do the fighting with the armies themselves, nor did he really command them either, because he was often too busy at his super cool science job, too, making all kinds of crazy gadgets like a glove that throws freeze bombs!" She recounts.
"Wait… Do you mean CryoMine Gloves? Like the one Ace Hardlight used in his last comic?!" Ratchet asks enthusiastically.
"Yep! Your dad invented it!" Cally says proudly, always enjoying bragging about how awesome Kaden was to their son, as it was often in their marriage together that she was unable to believe just how lucky she was that someone as great as him chose someone like her despite him being entirely able to get any girl on Fastoon if he really wanted to.
"Woah, that's so cool!" He says excitedly. "My dad actually helped Ace Hardlight!"
"Oh, your dad did more than just help Ace, Ratchet. Your dad even helped our entire species. If it wasn't for him, well… We probably wouldn't be here right now. Thanks to your dad, he saved all of the Lombaxes, including us. It's… Also the reason why he isn't with us anymore, but it just makes him all the braver for doing it." She adds with a wry smile.
"Ever since he was a teenager, all he's ever done was to help people. To be a big hero, like Qwark or Ace or the rest of your comics. He's explored the galaxy, became a General, invented all kinds of cool gadgets that save people, and saved more lives than you can ever imagine. You think Captain Qwark is cool, sure. But in my opinion, I think that your dad is the coolest person in the entire universe." She says with a nod.
"Huh… He does sound pretty cool…" Ratchet mutters looking away for a moment as Cally smiles, happy to see she got the message through to him.
But after a few seconds, Kipler looks back up to her, his eyes gleaming with innocent childhood wonder that she was always jealous of, being damned with adult responsibilities all the time, and doing everything in her power to maintain that innocence for her son.
"Mom, do you… Do you think I could be a hero, too? Like dad?" He asks.
She was a little surprised by his question and the earnestness he asked with it, but the surprise quickly goes away in place of pride and love as she crouches down to meet his gaze, gently grasping his arms as she grinned at him.
"Without a doubt, Kip." She says warmly, staring into his eyes. "You might be my little boy, but you're your father's little boy, too, and I can already tell you take a lot after him. You're always selfless with how much you want to help me around the garage, you're brave whenever you try out new things that seem scary to you, and most of all, you do all of it not for some kind of reward, but because you really do love to help people. Those are all some of your dad's greatest qualities, and they're the same qualities that make up a real hero, just like him.
"So, yes, Ratchet. I think you have what it takes to grow up into a hero just like Kaden was." She says proudly before she leans in to nuzzle his nose with hers. "And no matter what, you'll always be mommy's little hero, too, with how much you help me."
"Mom…" Ratchet giggles, trying to back away from her smothering nuzzle and sappy line.
"Hey, I won't always be able to do that when you grow up, you know!" Cally chuckles, letting him go as she stands up. "But, as long as you're my little hero, why don't you keep helping me haul the scrap out of the garage before we get some ice cream as a treat?"
"Yeah!" Ratchet says excitedly, always loving the idea of ice cream on a hot Veldin day. "I'll even carry two boxes, too! So I can get strong like dad and Qwark!"
"Eh, I think that much is limited to Qwark." Cally chuckles as Ratchet excitedly runs off ahead while she walks. "I always made fun of your dad for being a bit more on the lean side as revenge for him making fun of me about everything."
"Well, I'll be strong! Just watch!" Ratchet says as he disappears into the garage.
But as he does, she gives a small sigh.
"I'm going to hear him dropping a box in a few seconds, aren't—"
CRASH!
"I'm okay, mom!" Ratchet quickly replies.
"Yep." She says with a smile and a roll of her eyes, at least feeling assured that he is probably cleaning it up as she walked, always making an effort to try and make her day at least a little easier.
Despite how hard it was having to make a new life on another planet, learning all of its nuances and having to adjust to things like larger sandstorms, how you had to fly forever to get to more populated towns for shopping, and how there was little to do in such a rural planet, one thing that Cally loved about Veldin more than Fastoon was how beautiful it was at night from the lack of light pollution.
Many nights were spent up here such as this one; Just her and Ratchet on the roof of their garage, staring up at the breathtaking, unadulterated view of the stars and galaxies above, sometimes bringing snacks with them, and just enjoying the ambience of a quiet desert night that you never get on a bustling world like Fastoon.
"Hey, mom?" Ratchet asks, laying beside her.
"Hm?" Cally responds, her hands crossed behind her head.
"You… Said that we don't come from here, right? And that we come from some place called Fastoon?"
"Yeah, that's right, honey." She replies with a nod. "Why?"
"Well… Where is Fastoon?" He asks, pointing up into the sky.
"Oh… Well… You can't see it from here, Ratchet." She answers.
"Why? Is it on the other side of the sky?" Ratchet asks confusedly.
"No. It's just… It's in another galaxy." Cally replies, growing a little uncomfortable with this conversation. "We couldn't be able to see it from here if we tried."
"Wait, we come from another galaxy?" He asks with some awe, looking at her. "Do… Do all Lombaxes like us come from another galaxy, too? Is that why we haven't seen any other Lombaxes like us before?"
"…Yeah." She nods solemnly, knowing it wasn't a complete lie for why there aren't any other Lombaxes around.
"Huh." He mutters, digesting this information. "And… Why are we in another galaxy, then? Why aren't we with other Lombaxes like us?"
"That's…"
She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes.
"That's a difficult question, sweetie. We just… Couldn't live on Fastoon anymore, Kip. We had to move somewhere else." She tells him, not enjoying this topic at all.
"But why didn't we move to another planet? Why did we move to another galaxy?" He follows up, his questions entirely curious as they always were with how inquisitive kids always got, but Cally couldn't help but imagine accusation behind them—Just as how she herself asked Kaden when he first told her his plan.
"It's… It's because it wasn't safe for us, Ratchet. We had to do it. Me and your dad."
"But why? Didn't you say dad saved us and the Lombaxes from him being a hero?" Ratchet asks, tilting his head while looking at her. "If he saved us, why couldn't we just live on Fastoon instead of Veldin?"
"He did save us, Kipler." She answers—with just a touch of sternness in her tone, too. "We… Us living here instead of Fastoon was how he saved us. And why he's… Not here anymore. Because he went off to save everyone else, too."
"Well… If all the other Lombaxes are safe, then why don't we join them?" Ratchet questions, albeit a little hesitantly upon hearing the tone of her voice she gave with her last answer, as well as the fact she used his full name instead of one of his nicknames, too.
Cally senses this hesitancy, internally kicking herself for getting stern over such a natural question he would have, and she sighs as she removes her hands from the back of her head, instead crossing them over her chest as she turns her head to look back at him.
"We can't. We just can't." She responds somberly. "Look, Kipler… Just… There's a reason why we live on Veldin instead of Fastoon. Why we don't see any Lombaxes anymore including your dad, and why we can't just live with them like you say. It's a good reason, and one you'll completely understand once you're ready… But as-is, just trust me when I say that us living alone here on Veldin and never leaving it is the best thing we can possibly do. Trust me."
"But… Why can't you tell me now?" He asks, looking at her with furrowed brows. "I'm almost eight now, mom, I'm all grown up!"
Despite the gravity of the conversation, Cally can't help but chuckle as she rolls over a bit to hug him.
"I know you are, sweetie. But… Not grown up enough to know everything. Not yet." She says softly. "When you're ready, I'll tell you everything, I promise. But until then… Just know that I'm doing this to protect us. To protect you. Because I love you with all of my heart, Kip." She says, planting a kiss on his head.
"I… I love you too, mom." Kipler replies quietly after a brief pause, returning the hug. "…But do you have to call me 'Kip' all the time? It's embarrassing."
"Yes." She says smugly, rubbing his back.
However, she knew that he wasn't entirely satisfied with her staying quiet about everything, but unfortunately, it was the answer he was going to have to settle with for the time being. He's still a child, and too far from Tachyon and his genocide to have to worry about him anytime soon, and far too young to be traumatized with the ideas of what that Cragmite did to their home. To their people.
When was she going to tell everything to Ratchet? Even she didn't know. Ideally, she'd be happy to go the rest of their lives without damning her little boy to the horrors of what happened to their people and his father.
But she knew an ideal life was impossible in this universe, as her real ideal life would have her and Kipler living on Fastoon right now with Kaden. To be held in his arms every night as they slept, having Ratchet go to the Academy and make friends with other Lombax children. Not have him be an assistant in her mechanic shop all alone in the middle of nowhere on a nowhere planet, growing up without a father, and a target painted on their heads for having the gall to be born as Lombaxes from a genocidal maniac a galaxy away from their real home.
But as Cally held Ratchet in her arms on the warm Veldin night, she stared up into the sky, the stars shining brilliantly down onto them, a wonderful sight that always comforted her at least a little bit for their beauty.
But they also comforted her because she knew that somewhere up there… Kaden was watching down onto them, always with them, just as he promised.
"…Hey, mom?" Ratchet asks quietly, looking up at the stars with her.
"Yes, sweetie?" She responds, rubbing his back.
"What's your favorite consuh… Consteh…?" He stammers, trying to recall their exact name.
Cally chuckles.
"Constellation?" She asks.
"Yeah, the star pictures." Ratchet replies with a nod.
"You know… I'm not sure, actually. I'm not really familiar with stars that aren't from Fastoon, and I never bothered to look up constellations from this sky, either. I just like how pretty they are." She answers before looking down on him. "Do you?"
"Yeah. I like that one up there, that looks like a big rocket ship." Ratchet replies, pointing a hand up into the sky. "With the big shiny red star on the tip."
"Hm… Oh, I think I see it." Cally says with a smile, following his finger to look for the star in question, and now able to see a clear outline of a ship once he mentions it. "Are there any others you can show me?"
"Yeah!" Ratchet says happily with a nod. "Over there is a sandshark, then a snake, then a big ol' wrench there, too!"
And as Ratchet begins to rattle off all the patterns he sees in the sky with the enthusiasm that all children seemed to have, Cally gladly indulges him, listening aptly to his observations, but stealing small glances away from the stars to look and smile upon her son, and once again making a silent vow to do everything in her power to keep that wonderful smile on his little face.
"Come on…" Ratchet mutters, a tongue sticking out of his mouth as he delicately turns a screwdriver on a pair of ragged hoverboots he convinced his mom to get him during their last visit to the junkyard.
Ever so slightly, just a little more, and then it'll be—
POP!
The bottom of the boot suddenly falls off, various components plopping out of it onto the garage floor, completely undoing the work he was doing for the last half-hour as his lips form a scowl.
"Dammit!" He cries out in frustration.
"Hey, language, Kipler!" Cally replies, waist deep in an engine bay of a client, too busy screwing on a new carburetor to bother popping out to scold him.
"But my hoverboots just broke!" Ratchet replies with a huff, crossing his arms, screwdriver and broken clock in his hands.
"Still, no swearing, young man." Cally replies, still inside the ship.
"Why? You swear all the time when you work on stuff, mom!" He argues. "Why can't I? I'm ten now!"
"Because those words are mommy words, so only mommy gets to use them." She says pointedly.
"But what about people like Mr. Jenkins? He uses those words, too, and he's not a mom!"
"Mommy words are also adult words, so you've gotta be an adult to use—OH GODDAMMIT YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She suddenly cries out as Ratchet hears the telltale pinging of a bolt being dropped into the engine bay. "…Great. Just what I wanted to do today. Finding a tiny-ass bolt to make sure it doesn't ruin the pistons. Perfect." Cally grumbles as she removes her torso from beneath the hood, covered in oil and grease as per usual.
But as she grabs a rag to start wiping her arms, she looks over and sees Ratchet looking back at her with a flat look, clearly recognizing the irony of her chastising him for swearing right before she lets out a volley like that.
She scoffs, rolling her eyes as she turns towards him, planting her hands on her hips before pointing at him.
"Hey, when you're an adult, you can say whatever you want when bad stuff happens, alright?" She says, raising her eyebrows. "But until then, no swearing under my roof. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Ratchet says with a sigh before he looks past her and out the open garage door, showing the desert landscape beyond their home as usual.
And upon seeing it, an idea crosses his mind, prompting him to smile as he bends down to pick up the pieces of his hoverboots along with placing any required tools into his pockets before he starts casually sauntering across the garage, out the door.
Cally doesn't fail to notice the smile on his face as he did so, however, prompting her to raise an eyebrow.
"What are you doing, Kip?" She asks with slight worry, recognizing that smile as one of mischief.
"Going to work on my hoverboots outside." Ratchet happily replies.
"Why? It's hotter out there, you know." She says, thumbing out the door, the heatwaves visible as they cooked the dirt and sand on the ground, making the horizon waver and dance.
"I know, but I get to swear out there." He says, looking back at her with a smile.
"I—Wait, what?!" She replies with utter confusion.
"You said I can't swear under your roof, but there's no roof outside!"
She just stares at him for a few seconds in disbelief, but then can't help but give a small laugh as she shakes her head, continuing to wipe the oil off her arms with a rag.
"You always have to be a smartass like your dad was." She chuckles before looking back at him with a smile. "Okay, fine, just this once, I'll let you get away with that little loophole, you smart aleck. But if I hear anything really bad—"
"Don't worry, I won't!" Ratchet says with a laugh as he walks a bit aways from the garage, finding a nice spot on the ground for him to sit down on and continue repairing the hoverboots as Cally dives into the engine once again to find the dropped bolt.
Ratchet also wanted to come out here because he honestly liked the sun sometimes, and on a day like this where it was merely 'hot' instead of 'boiling', it felt refreshing, feeling the warm ground on his legs and feet as he sat down, tinkering on his clock even more.
And, as always whenever he worked on little gadgets and gizmos made from the scrap his mom accumulates with her mechanic job, he finds himself getting sucked in to his task, slowly repairing an fixing up the pair of broken hoverboots piece by piece, bolt by bolt—a kind of trance his mom says that his similarly inventive dad always got sucked into, too.
He was preoccupied enough with his building that he barely registered a ship landing next to the garage as he hummed Captain Qwark's theme song to himself, trying to fix the problem that made the clock pop out in the first place. The ship was probably another customer wanting his mom to fix up their ship again, so it's not like whoever it was needed to talk to him or whatever.
But as he was finished wiring up the thrusters, his ear twitches as he hears footsteps walking over to him before stopping, then a clearing of a throat before a gruff male voice speaks up.
"I-I, erm… Hello, young man." The voice speaks, seemingly shoving down some nervousness. "Is… Is your mother home?"
"Huh?" Ratchet asks, breaking out of his trance as he turns to face the voice before his jaw drops upon seeing who it was.
The man before him stood tall, taller than his mom, holding what appeared to be a staff with wrenches on either end, although they didn't look like the kind of wrenches he and his mom used in the garage. He was covered in red and white fur, a skinny tail poking out from behind him, and staring back down at Ratchet with a soft yet tired face, his eyes both red and yellow with long facial fur, and most of all, giant ears that were bigger than his head. Just like his.
"Woah… Are you… Are you a Lombax?!" Ratchet asks in awe, still staring up at him in shock.
The man gives a soft chuckle with a nod.
"That I am, son. That I am." He answers. "But, again, may I ask, is your mother named 'Calliope' by chance?"
"Erm, y-yeah, but everyone just calls her 'Cally'. I just call her 'mom', though." Kipler answers with a nod, still flabbergasted by the sight of another Lombax standing before him.
"I see. So, your name must be 'Kipler', then?" The man asks, Kipler able to see him smile a little bigger upon his confirmation.
"Um… Yeah, but my mom only really calls me that when I'm in trouble. She mostly calls me Ratchet, or Kip. How'd you know that, though? I didn't say my name?" He asks.
"Well, I've actually known you since you were just a baby, and even before that, too." The man chuckles again. "My name is Alister. I'm a friend of your mom and dad, Kipler."
"Wait… Really?" He asks in awe.
"Indeed, which is why I came here today, because I wanted to talk to them. So, is your mother here, then?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, she's in the garage over there, but she's really busy right now. She's swearing and stuff after a bolt fell and—"
"JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" They suddenly hear her voice emanate from the garage, making them turn their heads towards the sound.
"Like that." Ratchet continues casually. "She probably doesn't want to talk right now."
Alister gives a small laugh.
"Still the spitfire, it seems like." He remarks quietly before looking back down at Ratchet, and crouching down onto his knee as he looks at what he's holding. "In the meantime, though, what have you got there, Kipler?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, it's just a pair of hoverboots I'm fixing!" He says with a smile, proudly holding them up. "I always wanted some after my mom told me about how my dad used to fly them, and we picked them up at Vic's junkyard. I still haven't gotten them to work yet, though."
"Well… Are you close, then?" Alister asks curiously.
"I think so. I've been working on these for a few days now, and broke them a few times… But I don't wanna give up just yet!" Ratchet replies with a smile, looking up at him.
"Excellent, because that's the most important thing you can do, Kipler; never giving up. I've seen your dad build lots of things growing up, and they almost never worked after the first try. If you keep at it like he did, then you'll have no trouble making that pair of hoverboots work just as well as he did his own!" He offers with a smile and a nod. "And if you're anything like him, then I bet you'll fly really good in those things, too!
"Have you seen him fly in these before?" Ratchet asks curiously.
Alister chuckles.
"Seen him? Why, I helped teach him!" He answers amusedly with a hint of nostalgia. "I've seen him faceplant in the dirt quite a bit when he first got them… But hey, I'm sure you'll be better than him. Not as much things to run into like he did out here, by the looks of it."
"Woah… Can you teach me, too?" Ratchet asks eagerly.
"We'll see, my boy. I'll have to talk to your mother first." Alister says softly with a smile before he kneels down beside Ratchet, leaning on his staff for support. "But in the meantime, why don't you show me what you've done so far? I've had to sit through your father rambling about his every time he modded it that I've been forced to learn a thing or two about how these work."
"Oh, sure!" Ratchet says with a nod, holding up his incomplete hoverboots.
He starts pointing all the work he's done so far, all the stuff he anticipates needing to do, and Alister occasionally chiming in, pointing out things that he recalls Kaden doing to his own pair to make a tweak or two.
Meanwhile, Cally remains waist deep in the ship's engine, now standing on the toes of one of her feet as she reaches down, tongue sticking out of her mouth as a light shines down into the bay, reaching out for the shiny glint of the bolt.
"Almost… Got it…" She strains, reaching down as far as she can.
She gives one more lunge in a desperate attempt to grab the bolt, and in an instant, she feels her fingers graze it, then quickly wrap around it, and shuffles it into her palm before she retracts her arm, pulling out of the engine with a triumphant cry.
"HELL YEAH! SUCK IT, YOU TINY BOLT!" She says with a laugh, firmly planting it onto the workbench behind her, making damn sure it doesn't fall in again.
"Hoo! That took way too long." She mutters, grabbing a rag to clean off her hands and arms once again, breathing a sigh of relief at a mission accomplished.
But then, she looks back to the ship, and realizes she still needs to finish installing that carburetor, and that this little adventure with the fallen bolt was just a distraction, meaning she didn't really do that much for all the effort she put in.
And as she looks at it, she feels her stomach rumble, prompting her to glance at the clock to see it was past noon.
"…Screw it. I deserve a lunch break." She tells herself, throwing the rag back on the bench.
Ratchet must be getting hungry, too, especially with him sitting outside in that sun for a while now, working on those hoverboots of his that she made him promise he wouldn't try to fly without her supervision. Stars know she's heard plenty of Kaden's wipeouts when he was first learning, and the last thing she needs is Ratchet busting his face without somewhere there to tend to him.
"Hey, Kip!" She calls out, walking out of the garage to look for him (hoping he didn't fix them and fly away). "Come on, let's go make some lunch and—"
Cally instantly freezes in her tracks as she looks over near the side of the garage, stumbling on a sight that made her blood run cold.
There, she saw Ratchet alright, sitting on the ground with his hoverboots in his lap.
But kneeling there with him, talking with him, mere inches from her beautiful little boy who she has dedicated her whole life to protecting…
Was him.
It only takes a few moments for the shock to wear off enough to let her walk, speeding up into a jog, and nearly a run before she calls out again.
"KIP!" She cries out, making them both jump as she closes the distance to stand before them, seeing Ratchet and Alister turn their heads, and seeing a smile on Kip's face.
"Oh, hey, mom!" He replies cheerily as Alister stands back up, leaning on his staff for support. "Look, it's another Lombax! He said he—"
"What was he saying to you, Kipler?" Cally says firmly, staring right into Alister's eyes with a frown as Kipler stands up, her rushing over to stand between the two of them, placing a hand on Ratchet's shoulder.
"Oh, um, Alister was just helping me with my hoverboots. He says he's friends with you and dad, and that he even taught him how to fly with these!" He answers. "He was a big—"
"He's not our friend, Kipler." Cally says coldly, still refusing to look away from Alister's eyes as he instead looks down to the ground, a morose frown crossing his lips.
"I… Huh?" Ratchet replies confusedly, furrowing his brows as he looks between them. "But, he knows a lot about you and he said he'd teach me how to—"
"Go inside, Kip." Cally interrupts him.
"Wait, why? Mom, what's—"
"Go. Inside. Kipler." Cally says sternly, breaking eye contact with Alister to look back at Ratchet with a steely expression.
Ratchet takes an unconscious step back, admittedly frightened by how his mom looked at him and the tone she held, and while at least understanding that she didn't seem mad at him, he still had no idea what was going on.
But he knew with that fierce tone his mother held that it'd be a death wish to question her further. So, obliging her request, he quickly takes his clock and starts walking back into the garage, Cally watching him do so, as does Alister.
And as soon as Ratchet disappears, Alister looks back to her with a solemn look, gripping tightly onto his staff with slight anxiety—especially upon seeing the large scar across her face, a physical reminder to him of all the carnage and chaos that happened in the attack.
"Cally, I—"
Cally turns around to face him, and instantly punches him square in the jaw with a small cry, causing Alister to take a step back in surprised pain as she points at him with a furious look.
"What fucking gall do you have to come here, Alister?! To my home?! To my CHILD?!" She demands through gritted teeth as he rubs his jaw, recovering from her blow while staring back at her in surprise. "I thought you were dead when the Council exiled you—I hoped you were—and I walk out to see you with my SON?!"
"I…" Alister gulps. "I thought I'd…"
"You'd what? Just, saunter into our lives? Stroll right in and shack up with us, after all you did? What you caused? All the absolute suffering you've given to me and every single other Lombax alive?! Or should I say, what's left of them?!" She growls, crossing her arms.
"I… I wanted to apologize." He says quietly, hanging his head as he stands up straight again, his mouth throbbing with dull pain from her blow. "For everything. For what I did to you, and Kaden, and Kipler, and everyone else. I wanted to—"
"Oh, he apologizes!" Cally states dramatically, throwing her hands up. "You hear that, everyone?! The son of a bitch that let Tachyon massacre all Lombaxes, force the rest of them into another dimension, and stranded me and my family behind in the middle of nowhere apologizes! I only have to live in constant, unending fear that me and my child will die like my husband did, but since he apologizes, I guess everything's just peachy and sunshine and—"
"Wait, what?" Alister interrupts, his eyes growing wide with shock as he gulps. "Did… Did you just say that Kaden's…" He trails off.
Cally feels her eye twitch as a sudden surge of righteous fury overwhelms her, making her jam a finger into his chest to make him stumble back.
"DEAD, ALISTER!" She screams in his face, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "KADEN IS FUCKING DEAD BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID! I'VE HAD TO LIVE HERE ALL ALONE FOR A DECADE, RAISING OUR SON ALL BY MYSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLANET, IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GALAXY, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
And as Cally's breathing starts to get more ragged, her sobs being buried by the sheer rage she was feeling towards Alister, he gulps, still reeling from the shocking news that his best friend was dead.
"But… I-I didn't…"
"Do you know that feels like, Alister?! To have the father of your child, the love of your life you've known since you were a teenager, ripped away from your life, just like that? To cry yourself to sleep, wishing to anything in this bitch of a universe to feel his arms around you again? To hear his voice again? To know that you will never, ever get to see him for the rest of your life ever again?" She demands, glaring at him as tears roll down her cheeks.
"Do you know fucking hard it is to raise a child all by yourself, all alone? Without even your species? No one there to help you while you feed him, teach him, change his diapers, hear him cry, comfort him, on top of running a business all by yourself so that you stay afloat, all the while scared out of your goddamn mind that Tachyon will knock on your door and kill you both for existing? About how you can't even look at your own goddamn face in the mirror anymore without thinking of all the pain and heartbreak you've suffered through since you lost everything?!" She cries out, gesturing across the large scar on her face.
"Well?!" She reiterates, tears rolling off her cheeks to land on the dry ground below them. "DO YOU?!"
"I… I…"
Alister lets out a shaky breath, hanging his head again.
"I don't." He whispers.
"You're damn right you don't, you bastard." Cally states through gritted teeth, crossing her arms, continuing to glare at him. "And now, I have to be even more terrified of Tachyon with you coming here, because how in the hell did you find us, Alister? If you can find us, then who's to say that Cragmite can't, either? Because I swear to the stars, if you just endangered me and my son, I will end you with my bare—"
"You're not in danger, Cally, I'm sure of it." Alister quickly assures her, raising his hand. "I—"
"Don't call me 'Cally', asshole." She sternly cuts him off, still crossing her arms.
"I… Even Tachyon doesn't care about me. He told me so himself when I tried to kill him, and he beat me." Alister says, turning his head away with a frown. "He said I wasn't even worth killing, and that I was useless after I… I had helped him. He just… Let me go, saying he knew I wouldn't be a problem in the future. You don't have to worry about him following me here, or anywhere else."
"If you're trying to gain my sympathy, Alister, it's not working one damn bit. He should have killed you for all I care." Cally states coldly, her face remaining tempered with contained fury. "Now, again, how the hell did you find me and my son?"
Hearing that from someone he once called a friend drove a spike through Alister's heart, but he shoves it down as he shakes his head with a morose expression.
"I'm not trying to, Cal—Calliope." He corrects himself. "It was a miracle I found you two. I was just gathering scrap and supplies in Solana for my home, and I happened to stop by the local junkyard here on Veldin. When I was there, the owner said he's been in business with other Lombaxes like me, and after asking him some more questions, I realized it was you, and he pointed me to your home. And, well… Here I am." He says, gesturing weakly around them.
"Dammit, Vic." Cally grumbles with frustration, turning her head for a moment. Next time she takes a trip down there to sell parts, she's going to have to have a talk with him about yapping off where she and her son are hiding out to strangers.
Although, she had to admit that it wasn't exactly a bad judgement call on Vic's part if the person he told was another Lombax, but she still wanted to err on the side of caution nonetheless.
"I…" Alister sighs, bringing her attention back to him as she sees the grip on his staff tighten, his head still hanging. "I thought you and your family were evacuated to the new dimension like everyone else. And when I heard you were left behind here, I just wanted to come here to say that I am sorry, and that I regret my decision with every single atom of my being, and that I'd do anything to take it back. I'm just… Glad to see that you and Kip were able to survive the attack, at least. Even if Kaden…"
"Keep my son's name out of your mouth, you dirty traitor." Cally bites back, pointing back up into his face with a snarling scowl. "And I don't give a shit about anything you have to say either, Alister, because no amount of 'sorry's in the universe will bring Kaden back. I will never get to see him again, and my son will never get to meet his goddamn father." She explains, jamming her finger into his chest once again while her eyes glare right into his tortured soul.
"All. Because. Of you." She iterates slowly and decisively, taking a step with every word that drips with deadly poison.
"If it wasn't for you, Alister, none of this would have happened. Tachyon wouldn't have been able to commit his genocide. Kaden would still be alive. Fastoon wouldn't be destroyed. And, most of all, my son would've grown up like a normal child should have, with the family he shouldn't have lost in the first place."
Alister can't fight back the tears as they start to well up in his eyes, wanting to protest and argue with her, but no matter what, deep down, he knew there was nothing to argue against. Everything she was saying was right.
And the fact that he learned that his mistake caused Kaden's death—his childhood friend, his brother-in-arms, one of the most important people in his life… How could he ever forgive himself? Let alone expect her to forgive him?
"I hope you were satisfied with your little 'visit' to my home, Alister, because it's going to be the last." Cally states firmly, pointing down. "You're going to turn around, grovel back to your ship, and fuck off from our lives. Forever. You're lucky I'm letting you walk away this time, because the only reason I haven't killed you for what you've done is because I don't want to traumatize my son in making him watch his mom commit homicide.
"But if you ever—and I mean EVER come back here again, Alister… Kipler's going to see firsthand just what happens to any poor son of a bitch that hurts our family."
While Alister gulped, also swallowing back even more tears, he wanted to treat that aggressive statement as a mere scare tactic, just something to emphasize her point that she doesn't want to see him again.
But staring into her eyes, seeing the sheer fury, the burning, white-hot rage replacing what he's only ever known until now to be such a soft, tender gaze that made him perfectly understand how Kaden fell in love with this woman…
It wasn't a warning.
It was a promise.
"Do I make myself clear?" Cally growls, crossing her arms.
Alister opens his mouth in an effort to argue, protest, just say anything to possibly ease her murderous stance on who she once considered a friend. Trying to tell her about the utter personal hell he found himself in ever since the attack, about how miserable it is to live knowing that everyone hates you.
Your entire species, the very psycho you inadvertently helped commit genocide, someone who you once called friend, and above all, yourself.
Knowing that nothing you do will ever bring back those killed by that Cragmite, not even your childhood friend who you will never see either, never able to share a laugh or a good drink ever again, and now, unable to be an uncle to his son like he promised so long ago.
But no such sentiments come out of his mouth as he gives a solemn nod, stifling even more tears.
"Yes." He whispers. "I understand."
"Good." Cally says coldly. "Now leave."
"…Very well." Alister says, taking a deep breath as he turns around, beginning to walk back to his ship. "Goodbye, Calliope."
But after a few steps, he stops, and turns his head back to her.
"But… Just know that if you ever need to find me for whatever reason… I'm living on—"
"You can live in hell for all I care, Alister, because that's where you belong." She cuts him off before throwing a finger back to his ship behind him. "Now shut up and leave before I change my mind, you son of a bitch."
Without another word in fear of tempting her wrath any more than he already has with his mere presence, Alsiter gives a silent nod as he walks back to his ship, Cally watching him as he opens the cockpit and climbs inside. She sees him give her another miserable glance, but her steely expression doesn't falter one bit, nor does she feel any pang of sympathy at all.
In fact, she felt somewhat content, finally able to say everything she's wanted to for the last ten years since the attack to Alister's face himself. The only regret she had was that she punched him only once, but such were the sacrifices of being a good mother.
And as she sees Alister's ship slowly rises off the ground, kicking up torrents of dirt and dust before it blasts off into the sky, she felt relief. Never again does she want to lay eyes on that disgrace, or even worse, see him talk to her son ever again.
All the things that have gone wrong in her life from the attack—losing Kaden, losing her home, having to build a brand-new life in the middle of nowhere as a single mother to a son who will never meet his father—all of it could be pinpointed to the moment that bastard gave Tachyon access to everything he asked.
She lets out a frustrated breath, hanging her head as she rubs at her eyes, finally attempting to dry up the tears she was shedding the whole time out of misery and anguish from the overwhelming surge of emotions she felt all throughout that conversation.
Between having to see Alister for the first time since the attack, the frustration of the ship repairs she's had to do today, and the fact that she was still hungry from a lack of lunch, Cally just needed a hot minute to cool down before she even thinks about continuing the rest of her day—of which was now likely to be dedicated to closing the garage early and relaxing as best she could.
But as she stood out in the sun, face in her hands as she practiced deep breaths, trying to collect her thoughts and wrangle in her feelings, Kipler stood in a window of the garage, having watched the entire exchange happen ever since his mom told him to go inside.
Although he couldn't hear anything they said (except for snippets of words as his mom yelled sometimes), he could still tell that whatever they were talking about was bad, with the way she hit Alister and yelled at him.
Suddenly, he sees his mom remove her hands from her face, and take a deep breath before turning around, beginning to walk back to the garage.
Ratchet quickly ducks down from the window, and starts putting a screwdriver to a random part of his hoverboots in an attempt to disguise the fact that he was spying on her and Alister talking together, trying to look like he was just too busy working on his boots to do such a thing.
But as Cally walks into the garage, looking over to Ratchet, and seeing that he was trying to turn a nonexistent screw on the toe of the boot, she just gives a wry smile.
"I know you were watching us, Ratchet." She says softly, if not with a slight bit of amusement. "You're not that slick. Especially with how I could still see your ears when you tried to hide, too."
"…Oh." He mutters with some embarrassment, but also a slight bit of relief that his mom didn't seem mad.
And as he awkwardly removes the screwdriver from the boot, Cally gives a small sigh, crossing her arms as she leans against the doorway.
"We're not going to see Alister ever again. I just thought I'd make that much clear." She tells him.
"HuH? Why?" Ratchet asks, looking back up to her with some surprise.
"Because I told him to. I don't want him here with us. At all." She explains, wearing a slight frown.
"But… Why are you so mad at him?" He follows up, confused. "He told me that he was friends with you and dad, and that he taught dad how to fly, too!"
"He… Used to be, Kip." Cally answers, turning her head away. "But then he did something stupid. Something really stupid. Something so stupid that I can't ever forgive him for what he did. So… No. He's not our friend anymore. Nor will he ever be again."
Ratchet is a little disquieted by this, knowing that even though his mom sometimes seemed a little tough and scary (especially when she was yelling and swearing while working on ships), he knew that she was a really nice person to everyone. Even to the customers that are rude to her.
So to hear that someone as nice as her hates someone so much that she can't ever forgive them...
"What did he do, mom?" He asks uneasily, admittedly a little fearful of the magnitude of what Alister did to invoke such vengeance from his mom.
Cally doesn't answer, still turning her head away, but her mind clearly wracking with the question, internally debating how much she should tell—if at all.
But after a few seconds of patient silence from Ratchet, she gives a large sigh, and walks over to him and the crate he was sitting on, crouching down in front him as she places her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry, but… I don't think you're ready to hear it yet, sweetie." She says softly, looking into his eyes . "What he did was horrible, I can tell you that much."
"…Is this like what you say about telling me about Fastoon and the Lombaxes and stuff?" Ratchet asks cautiously.
"That's right, Ratchet." She nods.
"Then… When will I be ready to hear about everything?" He asks with some frustration. "I'm ten now, mom!"
"When you're older, Ratchet." She says, leaning in to hug him. "I know you're confused and probably a bit scared, and I'm sorry. But just know that I'm doing it to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"From… What killed your father." She whispers. "That much I'll say."
Ratchet grows quiet at this, suddenly understanding a bit more about the gravity of the situation with consequences like that.
He was still more than confused, and also still a bit frustrated at his mom's silence on this subject that constantly hangs over them, but at least he understands a bit more about what she means about 'protecting' him—even if he doesn't understand it fully.
But after a few more seconds of silence as he mulls over her argument, he hears her give a small sigh as she pulls back from the hug, still holding onto his shoulder, but wearing a small smile.
"Well… Today was a lot, I know, and I'm sure you're hungry, too, Kip." Cally says, putting on a tone that was a bit more cheerier. "So… How about we close up the garage for the day, get ourselves some lunch from Frankie's Diner in town, and spend the rest of the day having some fun together? How's that sound?"
"I… Well… Can we get ice cream, too?" Ratchet asks with a shrug, unable to help but put on a small smile.
She chuckles as she nods.
"Yep. All the toppings, too. We deserve it."
"Then, yeah!" He answers enthusiastically with a nod and a grin.
"Perfect." She answers, putting on a grin as well while she plants a quick kiss on his forehead before standing up. "Now, help me clean up a bit, then we can hop in the ship and get going."
"Okay!" He says, putting his hoverboots down while hopping up from the crate, more than ready to help his mom out for a nice treat.
But as Ratchet starts describing what kind of ice cream he wants to get when they get to town, Cally begins getting lost in her own thoughts while picking up her tools and scrap parts around the garage, still a little shook at meeting Alister, and bringing up all that pain from the attack once again.
And with all those memories and wounds opened back up—admittedly making her facial scars tingle a bit, remembering how much it stung and throbbed when that rubble fell on her—she couldn't help but still think about Kaden, and the last time they saw each other.
And for the millionth time since the attack, she yet again wondered if she was doing a good enough job as a mom to protect their son. She liked to think she was, but in the back of her mind, there was always the fear that she wasn't, and that she's screwing everything up with each step she took.
She really wished Kaden was here to help her out, give her advice, anything to comfort her. But thanks to Alister and Tachyon, he wasn't. For better or for worse, she was alone.
So… She just had to take a deep breath, remember Kaden's last words to her about how he married her for being the strongest woman he knows, and how she absolutely has what it takes to prevail over anything, and be assured that no matter what, he was always with them in spirit, silently cheering her on to be the best damn mother possible in these tough times.
And on days that seemed to test her abilities at motherhood such as this…
An indulgent ice cream with all toppings sounded pretty damn good right about now.
I was surprised at just how much fun it was to write Cally/Alister's argument with how different it is from Kaden/Alister, since while Kaden and Alister are childhood friends and Kaden is more inclined to forgive him, Alister is merely 'my husband's friend' to Cally, and would feel no such remorse.
And don't worry too much about Alister, for I got plenty planned for him ;)
And also, when I asked Kenya if she would like to say something in the author's notes for how she basically made this whole story happen from being the inspiration and giving me ideas:
"Nothing really, just emphasize that I love/hate you for breaking my heart with this story and its beautiful Ratchet and Cally interactions. :'v *sparkle emoji*"
So there you go, lmao
Until next time!