Once In A Memory [ A Ratchet And Clank Fanfiction ]

[44] Where We Began

...well, I'm not dead hahah! But it has been a hectic few months for me. I deeply apologize for the long wait, but I can't control when life gets messy 😅 

I hope you all have been doing well. For those returning to read the rest of this story after all this time: Thank you for sticking around! I am glad to finally give you the last chapters you deserve. For those that are new here: I hope you enjoyed everything up until this point! Not much longer until things are all wrapped up now!

Enjoy!

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It has been a week.

A whole week of counting the dead. A whole week of cleaning the streets. A whole week of fixing the damage and rebuilding...

A whole week of waiting.

To their dismay, Ratchet hasn't woken up, stuck in a coma and giving no signs of waking. Yuin tried to reassure them that there was no need to worry and that his body was healing, but they were still afraid.

Of course, Kaden and Phoebe could only stand by their son's bed so much. There were others that needed help and working off all this nervous energy away from Ratchet's bedside kept them busy and distracted from their spiraling thoughts.

There was also another problem...

"How could this be..." Arc whispered from his hospital bed, "No...Hunter wouldn't. He was on the line to evacuate. He didn't..." his voice trailed off then, eye roaming to the pristine white blanket covering him. Kaden sighed wearily,

"Arc-"

"No." the man refused to listen, "Cyfrin...I swear he's dead. I killed him. There was no one else in there with me!"

"But...Hunter is unaccounted for." Kaden said tiredly, "No one knows where he is. I'm sorry...Arc."

The man looked away with a frown, the words "Please no.." and "There's no way.." being muttered under his breath. Kaden, as much as he wanted to comfort his old friend and help him realize the facts, was too drained to even try...

He left the man alone with his thoughts and decided to come back later. Maybe then he could help the man come to terms.

"Kaden?"

He found himself walking into his son's hospital room and coming face to face with Phoebe. Her eyes were as tired as his own but her smile was as bright as ever. He swears that her optimism is all that keeps him going right now.

"Hey, Pho..." he kissed her cheek, "Any changes?"

The woman brightened then, "You missed it...he tightened his hold on my hand! Yuin says that's a great sign!"

She prattled on and on about it, while Kaden stood there watching her. He didn't know if she actually felt something and Yuin wanted to make her feel better or if Ratchet was actually on his way to waking up. Either way, he was happy to see his wife in such high spirits.

They would wait as long as they needed for Ratchet.

As the beginnings of a smile started to creep onto his face his holo-phone vibrated with a notification. He slipped it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen.

Mags.

He hadn't heard from the man since the end of the battle, but by the looks of it, he was ready to talk...

With a knowing look cast his way, Kaden pressed the button to call him. Hopefully, when he comes back his son will be awake.

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