There Is Silence
by Lady Dementia
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There is silence.
He waits quietly, uncertain of how much time had passed since he has arrived here, uncertain of how long it has been since the last test. Uncertain that time is even passing in this silent, barren place. Just uncertain.
A tiny creak brings his attention to the clear divider in the middle of the place he is in. On the other side she moves again, and he drags himself closer to the tiny hole between the divider and the floor. She is already next to it on her side, but he had moved in a restless circle as best he could a while ago and is a little ways off.
How long ago?
He doesn't know. He just knows that he had wanted to move to get adjusted to his new handicap. The last test had taken off his leg from the knee joint down. He doesn't know why. They never tell him why they do what they do to them.
She moves again and slips her fingers through the hole, touching only air. A quick jerk brings her cheek to rest on the floor beside the hole, and she searches the hole again, feeling the sides and as far through as she could push her hand. There is nothing but still air. "Are...are you there?" she asks tremulously.
"Yes," he responds, finally in range to kneel down, reach out, and touch her seeking fingertips. She relaxes as he holds them gently, lovingly, through the barrier dividing them. "Yes, I'm here. I thought you were resting."
"Has it been long?" she asks tugging on his hand. He lets her draw his own fingers back through the hole, laying down on his side facing her to make it easier. She brings her face forward along the floor to brush his fingers with her lips, reassuring herself that he really was there. "I can never tell in this place," she says sadly, reluctantly letting his hand go.
He slides his other hand along the floor to the hole. "No. Not long."
She curls her knees up against the barrier and lays there on her side, caressing all that she could reach of him through the wall. He lays on the other side, watching her with despair in his eyes as she treasures the small contact.
"Tell me...tell me again what it's like on your side?" Her voice holds the eager curiosity of a child hearing a story of paradise. "Will you be able to get me out soon?"
He looks away, sick with the deception he had made. The first time she had asked, he had tried to give her some hope by telling her a lie about the Maximals working to get them out. But as time had gone by since that first lie, he had started making it into a story. It didn't give him hope anymore, but she believed him. It was something that he had thought would come true long ago.
Or has it been that long? He can't tell. Maybe it will come true.
He thinks as he watches her, planning his lie. "Cheetor still wants to come see you, but the Preds shot him up pretty badly in the last attack," he says slowly.
"What happened?" she asks breathlessly, freeing a hand from him to press against the barrier. "Is he alright?"
"Yes, he's in the CR chamber back on the Axalon. He's says..." he hesitates. What would Cheetor say? "...he says next time he'll just blast on through to see you." He holds his breath. Would Cheetor say something like that?
But she smiles. "He would!" she giggles. "He's such a little kitten, still."
"Yes," he agrees in relief.
"But what about Rattrap?" she asks quickly. "And Rhinox? Did their idea work?"
He freezes. What had he said last time? He couldn't remember! Wait, maybe he had--yes, that was it. "They said they're still working on it. It looks like it might work, but I'm not a very technical person," he says, forcing a chuckle. "Don't worry. We'll get you out. They got me out, didn't they?"
"Yes..." A sad smile crosses her face, and her hands clasp his fingers tightly. "At least they got you out."
His free hand reaches out to touch her face but the clear barrier stops him; he had almost forgotten it was there. He lets his hand trail back down to rest on the floor again, still watching her as he lays curled up on his side just like her.
She touches her face to his hand again. "They'll come for me soon, right?"
"Right. It hasn't been long. You said it yourself that you can't tell the time in there. Just give them a little while longer, and we'll be able to get you out." It's something he no longer believes in, but as long as it gave her hope...
"I wish--"
His head snaps up as the door opens on the other side of the room. Another test! Had so much time passed?
HAD time passed?
"I have to go!" he says hurriedly to her. "The Predacons are attacking the base and Cheetor hasn't recovered yet!"
She looks stricken. "Oh, no! Hurry!"
He pulls his hand back, giving her fingers one last squeeze. "I'll be back before long. Time will fly!" Then he gets up from the floor and limp-hops with his one good leg towards the open door. He had learned to go through it when it opened. The consequences for not doing so...
He looks back once before going through the door. It slides shut behind him.
She lays her head down on her arm and sighs. "But I can't even tell what time it is." She listens to the silence and shivers. She's so alone. She can only sit here and wait for him to come back. It wouldn't be long, though. "It just seems like it," she whispers to herself. "But no matter how long it may seem, he's always come back. And he says it hasn't been that long. I can't trust how long I think it's been."
And there is silence.
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There is silence.
He limp-hops through the door and towards the clear barrier. On the other side she's resting again. She needs it. He tries to sit down quietly, but now he's even more off-balance.
She wakes when she hears the clang of him falling. "A-are you there?"
"Yes. I am here." He lets her have his hand to hold. "How are you?"
"The same. You?" She touches his fingers and then lets it go, expecting him to give her his other hand.
He doesn't. "I...I..."
She notices immediately. "What's wrong? Was the battle bad? Was anyone hurt?" She gasps. "Cheetor!"
He shakes his head mournfully. She's so concerned about the others. The Maximals, who she thought were working to rescue her. He doesn't think that anymore. Things have changed for him, but she has stayed the same. He still loves her, though. "No...but I..." He shakes his head again, trying to decide how to tell her. "Megatron shot off my arm, and since Cheetor's still in the CR chamber..." He shifts the stump of his arm uncomfortably. He almost wishes the lie was true. At least then he'd know why it was done.
"How horrible!" She clutches at his one remaining hand. "Can't Rhinox do anything?"
"It's alright. I just had to come see you before getting repaired, that's all."
She smiles. "How long has it been?"
"Not long."
"Will they be getting me out soon?"
"Yes," he says softly. "Yes, not too long now."
She nods trustingly. "I knew it." She pauses. "Can you tell me what it's like out there? Just...just to remind me?"
He closes his eyes wearily. "There's grass outside, with birds flying. The sky's clear and blue, but I can see some clouds in the distance." He tries to remember what he had told her last time. "Do you remember how the mountains make the horizon? All jagged? They have white tops, but everything around here is green."
Her face saddens. "I...I remember green. Are there flowers?"
"Yes."
"What colors? I still remember colors..."
"All blues and reds and purples..."
He talks for a long time. Or at least it seems like a long time. He can't tell how time passes in this place. He fills it up with words, though, and things don't seem so barren as the look of happy hope settles on her face. They talk until she's tired again, just filling up the silence with words.
She smiles and puts one of her hands on the clear barrier. "I love you."
He smiles, too, but his eyes show his despair for her. "I know. And I love you." When her fingers on his one remaining hand go slack and her other hand limply slides back down the barrier to lay half-propped up on the floor, he slips his hand free and places it against the barrier, too. If it wasn't there, their hands would be touching.
There is silence, now, as she rests. He watches her. Slowly shifting, he manages to lay on his stump of an arm so he's facing her on his side, his hand still pressed to the barrier. There he lays as time passes.
Or does it?
He can't tell. But he still loves her. Oh, how he loves her.
And there is silence.
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There is silence.
He's still watching her when she stirs again. He doesn't know how long it's been, and really doesn't care anymore. He touches her hand this time, before she can reach for him, and she smiles.
"You're still there?"
"Of course."
"How long has it been? Have you gotten repaired?"
He looks at her, at her worry for him, and returns her smile with a sad one of his own. "Not long. Not long enough for me to go and get repaired. I will soon, though. Soon."
She smiles impishly. "Before you come get me out?"
His smile dies. "Yes. Before...before then."
She shifts, stroking his fingers. "Do you know if Cheetor's okay? If Rhinox and Rattrap have done anything with their idea?"
He feels her touch on his hand as a precious gift. "Cheetor's doing better, but Rhinox says there might be a problem with their idea. Nothing bad," he quickly explains as an unhappy look crosses her face. "He just has to rework something. It won't take long," he says. The relieved expression shines at him.
The door opens across the room.
"I...have to go get repaired, now," he says. He doesn't think it had been that long, but what does he know? Time wavers strangely in the silence of this place; when they didn't fill it with words, who knew where it went?
She nods, completely understanding. "Yes. Will you say hello to everyone for me?" Oh, the trust, the love, the loyalty to the Maximals. The Maximals, who she thought were going to rescue her. The Maximals, who he knew either couldn't or wouldn't. But he loves her. He can't break her hope in a lie he supported.
"Certainly." He starts to struggle to his one foot.
"You...you're going to come back?"
He swallows hard, looking at the open door and wondering how he was going to get through it without falling; balancing was more difficult without his arm. "Of course." He will do his best to come back. But he doesn't even know why they were doing this, much less when it will end. He has to go through that door, though. He looks down at her, and he knows he will always go through that door for her.
And they knew that and used it against him.
"Soon?"
"Very soon."
And there is silence.
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There is silence.
She waits, laying on her side with her fingers in the hole in the strange wall in front of her, waiting for his hand to touch her again. He's all she has anymore, in this place. Her cheek rests against the floor, and she slides in and out of dreams of him. They are colored differently than she thinks is right, but that's okay. She likes the dreams. They pass the time.
If time is passing.
It seems like a long time has gone by, but she knows her sense of time isn't very reliable. The time she thinks is long isn't as much as she thinks when she asks him. He always tells her it hasn't been long, and doesn't he know?
She does wish that the others would visit her every once and a while, but she understands why they don't. He always tells her what's going on, and she feels like she's still a part of the Maximals because of how much he tells her. And when he tells the Maximals something for her, they always have so many things to tell her through him.
And him. She loves him. He'll come back soon. She touches one hand to the wall and wishes that she could see him again. Then she can get the colors right in her dreams again. She still remembers colors.
She smiles, and she waits.
He always comes back.
She drifts away into restless dreams, tired by her thoughts. It's been that way for a while, but he said that Rhinox will be able to make everything all right again. She trusts him, and she loves him. She wishes that there was some way to see him through the wall. But it's so dark in here that she can't even see her own fingers.
But he'll be back soon.
She dreams, not knowing that the wall in front of her is clear. Not knowing that he can see her when they talk, and that he is slowly being killed to save what's left of her as best he can. Not knowing that she's blind.
And there is silence.
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END.
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