Raindrops - V

Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. Some angst really hit me, and to help myself feel better, I wrote this out to get my feelings out.

Raindrops

V

The tears rolled down his cheeks, and the Lombax struggled to breathe as gloom swept through him.

His chest ached. Sometimes it stung, but for the most part, the dull emotional ache Nanotech couldn't heal weighed down his heart. His arms wrapped tightly around his body, and as the notes of the song on their music player trickled on, a new wave of tears rushed out.

Clank held onto him, his arms wrapped around his friend. His hand rubbed against Ratchet's fur.

A sob coughed out of Ratchet's mouth as the song played through their bedroom. "I-I-I'm sorry, Cl-Clank. I didn't thi-think I'd be thi-this emotional."

As the next few lines of the song reached their ears, Ratchet curled inward, hunching over the edge of the bed and shaking as he struggled to hold in his emotions.

The little robot followed his friend's movement, only breaking his hold on his friend to change the position he was in. As he stood and laid across Ratchet's left shoulder, he wrapped his arms around his friend's chest. "Ratchet... there is nothing to be ashamed of."

A laugh came out of the Lombax as a harsh cough followed. "Usually I'm not this... affected, you know? I don't know what it is about this song that's causing this-" He bit his lip as his body shuddered. "-but I-I-I... I'm sorry." He sniffed as the song reached the last section before the chorus.

Clank was silent for a moment. Then the robot squeezed his friend tighter. "Ratchet. Please, there is nothing wrong with becoming emotional over a song. Music is known to provoke emotional responses, and I cannot hold blame to you for feeling so taken."

The little robot rubbed his head against Ratchet's back. "Let it out, Ratchet. I will not judge you."

And as the final chorus began, the final crescendo, the Lombax let down his walls.

Loud sobs mixed with the singer's beautiful voice, creating a new cadence the words couldn't match. Tears dropped from Ratchet's chin as broken images filled his mind. He shook with the beat, his body trembling to the rhythm of his misery. His cries echoed throughout the room, but never loud enough to stop the singer's words from reaching his ears.

He was in the middle of a storm, and while he felt so much pain, he didn't know if he wanted it to stop.

As the song faded away, Ratchet focused on his breathing. Clank smoothed more fur as he felt the shaking die down. "Ratchet, I need to step away for a moment to turn off the music player. Will you be alright while I am away?"

"...Clank? ...I know this is going to sound weird... but can you... could you play it again?"

The robot tilted his head, confusion on his face.

"I... I want to get it all out." Ratchet turned to Clank, his red-rimmed eyes pleading to the robot's green ones. "I want to get out all this sadness, and I don't want to hold it back. It hurts to hold it back... I want to let it all go."

Clank nodded. Simple and without question. "I will do what you believe is best, Ratchet."

"Will you... will you sit with me while I... I..."

The little metal arms wrapped around his chest again, and as the robot held his friend together, he gently said, "Of course, Ratchet. I am here for you."

When the song repeated the next time, the robot hugged Ratchet from the front, his arms around his friend's neck as tears ran down his metal back.

He was there even after the tears were long gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I wrote this last week to vent out some bad feelings that swept over me. I came across an angsty (for me) fic where I had a sad-ish song in the background... had the fic been longer -gone a bit deeper in certain areas- I would have cried in the middle of my college's library. I would have drawn some vent art, though I don't have any art supplies with me at the moment. I just have a computer and a keyboard. I'm sorry if this is in any way out of character.

It's some vent writing for me, like the second drabble, though I have no doubt that we've all had something that blindsided us with emotion. If all goes well, I'll get that pirates drabble written and published as soon as I can. Thank you all for reading.