Ratchet and Clank Fanfic: Lifeforce Chapter 58

Lifeforce Chapter 58

"You learned to run from what you feel, and that's why you have nightmares. To deny is to invite madness. To accept is to control."
―Megan Chance,The Spiritualist

Emptiness

...

Leo knew in his heart that Fergus was dead. Despite the pain inside, like a beating drum in his chest, he felt happiness wash over him. Just when he was truly beginning to think he'd never be happy again. Percy lay in his arms, his head against the chest, seemingly unaware of the fact that most of his right ear was gone.

The blood was dried on his fur, but holding the warm little form in his arms made him feeling alive again. Like he was waking up from a nightmare.

He'd hurried into the ship without looking back, because now he had a job to do. He and Daveed weren't going to die, for Percy needed them now. Leo moved towards Daveed, his pale, broken body laid out on the floor. Putting him in a chair had been out of the question. Leo looked at his legs, limp and bloodied, then looked away again, feeling his happiness begin to drain. Daveed's eye cracked open, bloodshot and painful. But the moment he saw Percy, his lips twitched upward in a smile. He barely managed it. Leo lowered the child onto his chest, where Percy curled up, again unaware. Daveed wrapped his arms around him, weakly, beginning to sob. Whether he was sad, happy, or both, Leo didn't know. He turned his back and began the ship.

...

Percy had eventually noticed the pain. Leo had found that his wounds – his ear, various scars on his torso and left leg – had not reached the bone. In other words, they were not serious enough to require a doctor. It was a miracle. But the pain of the scars where too much for the three-year old, and he screamed throughout the night, with neither other lombax able to comfort him.

Bundled in bandages, the next morning the little boy lay on the passenger seat, his eyes half-open and drowsy from a restless night. Leo was quietly steering the ship. They had gone far after entering hypderdrive. No ship signatures had followed them. It seemed they had escaped.

"Unkie."

Leo turned his head. Daveed was asleep at the back of the ship, lain out straight, his back and legs stiff. The older lombax looked at the toddler, feeling numb.

"Wan' mama, dada now." He mumbled. Leo almost felt ill. He probably thought he was being baby-sat or something, or that his parents where just...away. How did he tell him? How could he possibly explain to someone this young?

Leo gripped the steering controls tight, so tight that it hurt. How do you explain the concept of death to a child, or that his parents where just...not coming back?

He pressed the command for autopilot, and turned to face Percy completely. The toddler stood up, fiddling with his fingers, staring up at him uncertainly. Leo knelt down, those little eyes watching him at level now. Never had he wanted to be somewhere else so badly.

"...Little Man...there's something..." He looked away; feeling like something was stuffed in his throat. "We can't go home now."

Confusion rippled over his pudgy face. "Wanna go home, Unkie."

"I know. I know."

Leo forced himself to look at him. "...Percy...something very bad has happened. Mommy, Daddy – Raym and Sissa. They're not coming back."

The boy stared at him. An eternity seemed to pass with the child's blank little face staring at him. Then slowly, it crumbled, his eyes watering – and he let out a small, broken squeak.

"No, Unc-le!" He wailed, slamming a little fist on his chest, "I wan' Mommy! I wanna go home!"

Leo seized his hands, and the toddler jolted, looking up at him, his cries stopping. Leo swallowed, "We can't. It's gone."

Leo didn't know what parts Percy understood, but it hurt. Percy broke away, shrieking at the tops of his lungs, no longer able to manage any kind of word. He just cried until he exhausted himself, till his throat was horse. Leo sat, listing, unable to hold him because he'd struggle away.

...

And so it went. Leo and Daveed continued to move further and further away from Fastoon, from Polaris, from anywhere near the galaxy. For the first few weeks, Percy cried and protested, pulling at his only ear or hammering his fists against anything he could find. He cried because of the pain of his wounds, or the pain inside. But then those tears died down, and the child became quiet.

Time moved by in a blur of misery. Misery that became faint foreboding. Leo watched as Percy grew, and his expressions returned after months of nothing but blank, droopy stares and little sighs. Percy was always frowning or bored. He never smiled. Leo had thought, that because of his youth, he'd forget.

But did he want him to forget?

Daveed said no. He spoke about Ickabar and Jan whenever he could, as gently as possible. Fergus, too. 'Do you remember Uncle Fergus?' Percy, in the beginning, would return to sobs at the mention of his parents. But as time went on, he didn't seem to have much recollection if Fergus. Or of them. The little songs his parents sang him didn't seem familiar.

But they continued to tell him, bit by bit. They did not leave him in the dark about what happened. They dared to leave the ship two years later, staring in travel hostels on remote planets, keeping very much to themselves. They'd long since passed into the Solana Galaxy since then. Percy got to see a sky again, but whatever he was thinking, deep down, they did not know.

Percy kept to himself, even if they happened to pass the few remote villages these planets offered. Other children did not approach him, as if sensing something was off about him. He drew a lot. Leo remembered, when the boy was three, he began doodling with three specific colours.

Red, yellow, orange. Always drawing fire. Then he'd draw dark figures, blurs Leo couldn't make out. Leo worried, but what could he do? He knew why Percy was like this. Daveed said all he needed was time.

Time healed, apparently. Leo prayed it did. He hadn't smiled much since then, either.

...

The Loki turned, throne and all, the moment he heard the Cockpit door slide open. "I see you got my message."

Tachyon stormed in, his face set in a stony glare. "Where is he?"

"In the most secure cell. My minions made sure to take every precaution." As if on cue, an image appeared in the overhanging screen. The purple lombax in question lay on a hard bench, his arms and legs bound in electro-bonds, his body limp. His chest raised and fell, though, clearly indicating life. The door to his cell was alight with a force-field. Any attempt to escape would be met by a harsh burn.

Tachyon sneered up at the image, then glared at the Loki next, "Have they tried awakening him? I do not wish to waste time."

"As if you can get someone who regenerates from injures to talk." The Loki remarked sourly, turning away. "And anyway, I am currently running scans, which would be much easier to complete if he was left as he is."

Tachyon grumbled from behind, "My patience is wearing thin. Our lead on Kraig could result in failure; I want a back-up plan at the ready!"

"He's not going anywhere." The Loki retorted smoothly, picking up a mug of coffee and taking a sip. That seemed to be the last straw. A blast of green shot by him and smashed the mug in his hand. The Loki stared, eyes wide, at the cup handle left in his clutch. He glowered over at the cragmite.

"How very mature."

Tachyon's voice almost cracked the nearby windows. "If you are so ingenious, then explain what mutation is MAKING THIS HAPPEN!" He looked incredibly mad at this point, far worse than Nefarious ever had. He was hunched over and panting like he'd run a marathon. The Loki couldn't stop himself from smirking. He was losing control. How interesting,

"It seems his presence here bothers you. Understandable, Understandable." He saw Tachyon's eyes blaze with rage at his patronizing quip, "But the whole incident with the lombaxes, for you, is. You where able to be aloof with it before, enough for you to see your missions through. You can again."

Tachyon's rage toned down for a second, as intelligence won over. "That terrible aim at flattery told me one thing, ingrate – that you need my aid in something." He didn't sound at all offering. The Loki snorted,

"Is that not what this partnership is about?"

"I am aware of what a partnership is, you eel. So what is it?"

"Magnus. I believe the tharpods – Croid and Nevo – are up to something." The Loki placed his hands behind his back. Tachyon rolled his eyes,

"They are of no threat."

"I sent some of my minions to bring them here, but they have not responded." Tachyon glared at him sharply,

"And why did you not inform me of this? What possible use could two old fools be?"

"Croid, insane, stupid or not, managed to discover what my kind have been unable to due to mother nature's odd sense of humour." The Loki said, pointedly avoiding Tachyon's nasty smirk at him, "I have reason to believe they are interfering with our plans – and that they may just strike lucky with the Lifeforce, as they did with the Protomorphic Energy Extractor."

"You believe they can remove the Lifeforce from that vermin's body?" The Loki looked at Tachyon. The cragmite was glaring at the screen as if the image was making him feel ill or even threatened. The Loki chuckled at him.

"I said before that you where able to control yourself – but then again, the child of the lombax raised beside you as a brother...identical to him, to boot...it must be quite shocking to see him."

Tachyon's head snapped towards him, and he exhaled slowly, "Do. Not. Test me. I could have what's left of your race ripped apart if I wished. You are nothing compared to me!"

Despite this, the Loki's smirk didn't falter in the slightest. He placed his hands back behind his back, feigning indifference, "If I did provide a way to remove the Lifeforce and potentially render him unable to regenerate...would you have it in your heart to kill him?"

The slightest sprinkle of mocking sincerity had been enough. In a flash he saw Tachyon looked horrified, even attacked – he gaped at him for a total of ten seconds, before he bristled like a kicked cat. The arm of his thrown lashed out and locked the purple hoverthrone back – The Loki had expected it and pulled back, still grinning.

"How dare you...?" Tachyon hissed, leaning over the edge of his air, quivering slightly, "How dare you even insinuate...?! I have no qualms! I feel nothing but the blazing insult of an existence this mutant is! I am not one of your animals in your pen, I am not to be evaluated and studied!"

"Oh, I wouldn't out even those dumb animals through the suffering of having you as a cell mate." The Loki retorted, "If you wish to prove to me that you are not emotionally compromised...then act like it."

As always, something interrupted to save their breaking points for another day. A drophid raised his clawed hand into the air, "S-sir...we're being contacted, we can't quite pinpoint its source or signature...!"

Tachyon, still glaring daggers into the side of the Loki's head, spat, "Just put it on screen, you oaf!"

"AAHAHAAA HAAA!"

Both miniature warlords spun around to face the main screen. Dr Nefarious, his head looking newly repaired, newly polished (and still being polished by the off-screen Lawrence's cloth) and his arms curled up in a theatrical poise, had appeared. His laugh scraped against the walls of the Battleship's Cockpit like a fire alarm.

"Oh, for Goodness' sake." The Loki muttered. Nefarious, not appearing to have heard, slapped his metal hands together,

"Right, maniacal introduction over." He tapped his forefingers together slowly, "I bet you two are wondering why in the cosmos I'd bother coming near you two creeps again."

"You can't help but have an obsession over reckless revenge?" Tachyon mused, sounding hilariously hypocritical. The Loki decided not to comment. Nefarious, again, ignored the remark,

"Well I remembered that I forgot to leave a parting gift for my two best chums." He said, sounding slimier than tar. "So I decided to make a quick trip to Rykan V."

"...You didn't." The Loki said, his face hard. Nefarious smiled, a small, faint little smile.

"Oh. I did."

Somewhere, deep in the ship, something roared.

...

She hovered quietly over the desolate canyon. This planet was dry, and almost empty – for someone wishing to hide, it was actually the worst place possible to choose. Crowded places, she found, where harder to navigate. She saw life radiating everywhere, heartbeats beating loud as arena drums. Large cities and metropolises hid more than far off, remote planets such as this.

It was a common mistake of the living.

She quietly swept along the canyon stream, over footprints left by the boy she had seen. He blazed like a torch in a cave; a single fish in an ocean. The Lifeforce ran through his blood and breath, and he didn't even notice.

She'd watched him for years now, keeping away for the time being. Unlike Ickabar, who she had found long into his life, she'd been present since his earliest days. He had no reason to recoil.

Then, in the vastness, she sensed something else. Other life aside from the three crippled souls huddled in the bunker. She flew back along the canyon, and to a station, where the red-orange lights of a ship had landed. She halted in her search and watched as the hulking suits of the drophids dropping down onto the surface; along with them, the heavy multi-legged mechs and machines. Their eyes were set to the West – in the very direction the bunker lay.

In a gust of wind the hovering entity swept back, breezing through the canyon walls and ignoring the paths, moving to the bunker in quick succession. She moved through the wall, hovering above the child – where he lay asleep, his face still set in a half-frown, unaware of the danger coming their way.

...

Percy was in a haze of half-awake, half still asleep. He could faintly feel something nudging at his only ear. He brushed at it sleepily and tried to ignore it. The nudging stopped. Then, something clinked gently by his bed. Forcing his eyes open, annoyed, he saw one of his drawings on the floor, having fallen from the wall. Wrinkling his nose, he sat up and looked to see how it had fallen.

Nothing was there. Leaning down, he reached to pick it up, but it was suddenly tugged out of his reach. He blinked. That didn't just happen. He looked at each window of the bunker, and saw none where open.

He rubbed his weary eyes and flopped back down on his pillow. He didn't care if the paper was magic; all he wanted to do was sleep...

He heard a soft thud next. Suddenly, his drowsiness seemed to vanish. He turned his head, feeling as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. His heart began thudding.

One of Daveed's tools was lying beside the place his drawing had just been. He watched it, feeling cold inside. Then, slowly, it began to rise in the air with no one holding it. Percy almost stopped breathing.

It's not real, it's not real, and it's not real –

He'd had nightmares. Oh, how he'd had nightmares. But they had never been this vivid, the sounds that clear nor the terror this acute. In fact, he hadn't been this afraid for as long as he could remember...

The tool began floating away. He gave a small snort despite his horror, at how dumb that sounded. He glanced over at Leo and Daveed, over at the bunk beds – both fast asleep, their faces barely lit by the moonlight. Percy slid out from beneath his blankets and stumbled after the tool, feeling silly and terrified all at once. He reached over with a quivering hand and tried to catch it, but it only raised higher above him, towards the window. Percy paused, watching it slide out like a clumsy hamster escaping its catch, and vanish outside.

He opened the door without really thinking. There it was, still, hovering in the air and bobbing along to the canyon – opposite the way he'd explored yesterday. He looked over his shoulder at his two carers, feeling a twang of quilt, but went outside almost instantly after. He knew they'd flip if they heard he'd done this, but he wondered how the tool was floating. Maybe Daveed had accidently installed a computer in it or something...Daveed's work was a mystery to him.

The sky was free from clouds and the moonlight was lighting his way. Percy walked along after the floating tool, still feeling a tad silly, but almost beginning to grin to himself. It was like something out of those stories Daveed told.

He broke into a jog, jumping, hoping to catch it by surprise – but it raised away from him again, around the canyon road corner. Staggering a little from his jump, Percy had to throw out a hand to balance himself against the wall. He was going downhill, he could see, and a stream was in his path. This canyon had many, but this seemed to be running a little faster than most.

Frowning curiously, he came to a halt before it. The tool hovering where it was directly over the water. Grinning again, he reached out to snatch it – but it slipped through his fingers and splashed into the cold water. Percy gave a small jolt of surprise.

He knelt down by the water and reached in – the cold bit at his skin but he ignored it, feeling around for the tool –

A strangled yelp, barely sentient, broke through the moon lit silence. Percy felt his heart freeze and his stomach twist. His arm, numbed by the cold, stayed where it was because he couldn't move it. He couldn't move any part of his body.

...

Leo hurled his wrench upwards with all the force he could muster. The thick metal weapon smacked against the glass tank of the drophid towering over them, breaking his helmet and sending him toppling down. The purple tech, three times as tall as him, had ripped the rook of the bunker clean off. He'd spent many nights mentally preparing himself to this kind of wakening, but it hadn't made it easier in the slightest.

He dove towards one of the counters and snatched up a blaster, just as the drophids standing on the walls of their now roofless bunker readied their own. Leo turned, aiming his weapon, but saw one of the wretched fish had leaped down to his level. He gritted his teeth and ducked out of the way – but something else hit the fish before it hit him.

Daveed, sprawled out on the floor, gave a huff of breath. He'd propped himself up on one elbow, his other arm now holding a small blaster. Leo felt sick with nerves. "Daveed!"

"What?!"

The pale lombax pushed on his arms and flung himself to the side as a drophid shot at him next. Leo knew it was useless to try and fight. There were too many. He sprinted over to Daveed and scooped him up, swinging him over his shoulder. The weight wasn't difficult to bear, but with a blaster in one hand he almost lost his balance. He ran for the door, feeling the heat of the blasts aimed at him singe the tips of his ears. He kicked at the door, kicking it down and ignoring the pain in his leg as he did so. With a quick look behind him, he saw that the bunker had gone ablaze – but Percy was still nowhere to be seen.

He'd just wandered off, as usual. They couldn't have taken him without him seeing. They ripped the roof off first for crying out loud!

"Leo, you can't – "Daveed's voice was cut off by another blast. Leo leaped back away from it, holding the other lombax tight on his shoulder. More drophids had appeared, slowly trying to move around him. He scowled deeply.

"They're trying to trap us in a c-circle. Move." Daveed rasped. Leo didn't need telling twice. He turned and sprinted to the only opening that wasn't blocked by drophids, ignoring the furious gurgles and the bullets flying past him.

Daveed, strung on his shoulder like a sack of wheat, reached over and pressed a button on his belt. A shield flickered into view. "It's not my best but its...something."

"You keep a shield device on while you sleep? You're worse than me." Leo huffed, through he didn't grin at his own quip. He dove a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small green ball, tossing it without a second thought over his shoulder.

A bright green blast ignited behind him, and the furious gargles became screeches. Leo didn't care. He didn't have time.

"Percy's gone. We have to find him – but I have no idea –"

He skidded to a halt. Down the canyon slope, crouched by a stream, sat the little purple lombax. He was staring back at him as if he'd seen a ghost.

"...L-l...?"

The next second was a blur for Percy. Once moment Leo was at the top of the slope, the next his hand had been grabbed and he was being pulled along. Leo was panting, Daveed looked horribly limp, and Percy could barely keep up with how fast the larger lombax was going.

"Th-they can't have found us, Leo." He said, his voice coming out higher than he'd wanted it to. He'd have laughed at himself once, maybe. "They can't have."

"But they did." Leo barked, and for a second Percy thought the anger was directed at him. But he saw Leo was staring ahead, his wide jaw set, his teeth barred and his eyes very wide – he looked more agitated than he'd ever seen him. And seeing big, strong Leo look so...scared...it made Percy feel all the more colder.

His legs where already burning with tiredness, trying to keep up. But he didn't dare complain. He couldn't think properly.

He looked over his shoulder, and saw no drophids – but in his head he saw fire, heard screams, and felt low, undying hatred like a bad taste in his mouth.

...