ElvenHuntress: Hey everyone. This is a one-shot for my reviewers of my Tears of a Falling Star/Life with Love and War stories. You don't have to have read those to understand. This is my Christmas story for those who liked the charecters. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Shadow: ElvenHuntress doesn't own the Transformers. She does own Lunar Eclipse, Firefly and the once mentioned War Blitz. That is all she owns.
Lunar Eclipse trudged through the snow, her white and blue dragon legs disappearing as she sunk belly deep into the snow, the air from her intakes coming out in white puffs. As she looked out across the snow-covered land, her thoughts turned to returning to the Ark, joining Jazz in the lounge and being with her friends.
"But," she sighed to herself; "I must do my duty and scout the area for Decepticons." She paused to watch a hawk fly overhead. Sighing, she continued on as the storm clouds above her swirled and decorated the sky.
In a lesser-seen area of the Ark, Firefly shifted boxes around, poking her head in some and pulling out some things. A small pile had gathered near her, a mixture of things. After pulling herself out of one box, Firefly seemed to pause before letting off a strange whistle/wheezing sound. She shook her head then continued to look through the cargo, working for hours. When Ratchet stepped into the room, he spotted Firefly leaning against a crate, sound in recharge. The CMO went up to her, kneeled down and gently shook her. The femme medic's optics flickered on and she looked up at Ratchet, and then glanced down at herself.
"Oh. My. I…I must have fallen asleep sorting," she said, looking around in confusion as Ratchet helped her up.
"You should rest Firefly. You've been working too hard," he told her, worry in his optics. She shook her head.
"No, it's all right Ratchet. I'm fine. I need to get this stuff to Prowl," she said, scooping up the items in her arms and she headed out of the room, leaving Ratchet staring after her, troubled.
Eclipse finally reached the Ark's entrance, her shift finished. A final gust of wind chased her in as she stepped into the Ark. The dragon femme walked down the Ark's hall, the ice that covered her wings beginning to melt as she headed for the command center. Walking in, she found Prowl and told him that the report would be on his desk the next morning.
"Get some rest Eclipse. Take it easy," he told her. She nodded and headed out the room, turning towards the wash racks. Prowl watched her for a moment before activating his com.
As Eclipse made it to the wash racks, she listened to the mechs that were preparing for the next day, a human holiday called Christmas. It seemed that they wanted to celebrate it with Spike and Sparkplug, decorating the halls and rec room and sending Red Alert into paranoid fits. Eclipse wasn't sure what to make of the holiday. It seemed silly to her, but she wasn't about to spoil any of the other Autobots fun by her mood.
Eclipse walked into the wash racks and took a cubical at the very end, away from anyone who came in. Activating the warm water, it flowed over her frozen cables and joints until she could finally move enough to transform into her bipedal mode. She leaned against the wall; her optics deactivated just letting the water flow over her.
A cloth ran over her back, causing Eclipse's wings to twitch at the touch. She activated her optics and glanced back to see her bond-mate holding the cloth.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Prowl told me dat ya were headed dis way," he said. Eclipse sighed and went to turn but stumbled. Jazz wrapped his arms around her and let her weary legs fold and helped lower her to the floor, the water still flowing over them. Jazz folded his legs and sat down, letting Eclipse rest against him, her head on one shoulder, her legs curled to the side. He picked up a cloth and began to rub the solution across her amour. He continued to clean her amour, his mate drifting into a light recharge. After Jazz finished, he managed to turn off the water flow and picked Eclipse up. The femme simply turned her head to burrow into his chassis. He carried her back to their quarters, passing Prowl along the way; the second in command giving a small smile.
Firefly came out of Prowl's office, stopping and looking down the hall. Her shoulders were low and she seemed to droop. She headed back towards the medbay, ready to get some rest. As entered the medbay, she saw Ratchet organizing some tools. She went over to him. He sensed her, turning to face her.
"Ratch…" she said, reaching out to place a hand on her mate's shoulder. The door slid open and the twins came in with several dents as well as a ruffed up Ironhide and a grumpy Prowl. She pulled her hand away and got a lost look in her optics.
"What is it Firefly?" he asked, picking up some tools. She glanced at him.
"I'm…I'm headed for recharge," she said, turning and walking away. Ratchet watched her for a moment before looking at the four that had walked into his medbay.
"I'm not fixing you. Not till you help me," he growled, glaring at them. The twins glanced at each other and Prowl raised his optic ridge.
"What for?" Ironhide asked warily.
As Eclipse woke up from recharge, she saw Jazz getting some things off of his desk.
"Jazz? What are you doing?" she asked, propping herself up. He gave her a quick look and a smile and then turned to walk out.
"Can ya get 'Fly? Prowl wants 'er 'elp for somethin' outside da Ark's entrance," he told her.
"But Jazz, I have…" she told his retreating form as he walked out, "a report to finish," she finished as he walked out. She stared at the door then her internal clock. She groaned when she realized that it was already 11 in the morning.
She stood up and headed out of their quarters, heading towards the medbay. She entered to silence, causing her to pause.
"This is very strange. Why is it so quiet?" she thought to herself. She walked across the room and knocked on the door to Ratchet and Firefly's quarters. When she got no answer, she opened the door and glanced in. Firefly was still curled up on the berth in recharge with no sign of Ratchet though that was no surprise. Eclipse went over to the femme medic and gently shook her.
"Firefly. 'Fly. Come on, time to online," she whispered. The medic onlined and looked up at Eclipse. She brought her hand up and rubbed at her face.
"What's going on Eclipse?" she asked her. Eclipse smiled.
"Nothin' much 'Fly. Prowl wanted your help with somethin' outside." Firefly looked around then frowned.
"Ratchet never came in from fixing the twins and Ironhide. I don't understand. We seem more apart than usual." Eclipse wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Don't worry. We've all been busy lately. Everything is sort of crazy right now. With this strange human holiday, even Jazz is acting odd. Come on, we'll go kick their afts into line," she said, pulling Firefly up. She laughed and followed her towards the rec room, meeting Waterfall walking towards them.
"I was just coming to look for you," she said, joining them.
"What's going on? Jazz and Ratch have been acting strange and the other mechs have really taken this holiday to spark," Eclipse noted. Waterfall shrugged.
"I think Jazz commented about the sprits being low. The twins overheard and probably ran away with the idea, getting everyone except maybe Prime involved.
"Makes me wonder what they did to earn themselves a couple of dents last night." The three laughed as they headed for the entrance. Stepping outside, the wind caused flakes of snow to dance around them.
"So what is going on Waterfall?" Eclipse asked. Waterfall looked at her.
"You mean you don't know?" Eclipse gave her a flat look.
"No. My bond-mate walked out and never said a word." Waterfall laughed and grabbed Firefly's hand and ran off, leaving Eclipse to follow.
"You won't believe this," she said. Moving past a snowdrift, the two femmes paused. Several mechs, including Jazz, Hound, Trailbreaker, War Blitz, Bumblebee and Wheeljack were crouching down, many large snowballs piled by them.
"What is going on?" Eclipse asked. She slid down next to Jazz and looked around. Jazz turned and grinned at her.
"Well, dere are some mechs dat are a little tense. We decided ta give dem a reason ta chill."
"Who are you planning to get?" Firefly asked. She looked slightly worried.
"Just da twins, Cliffjumper. Maybe even Ironhide."
"Take it easy "Fly. We're not after Ratchet," Waterfall said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Firefly looked a bit embarrassed.
"Hey, here comes some mechs. I think it's the twins," Hound said, picking up a snowball. The rest of the mechs did as well as Waterfall. Firefly and Eclipse glanced at each and Eclipse grinned.
"Well, it's not going to hurt anything. And it might be fun," she said, going next to Jazz and swiping one of his snowballs. Firefly shook her head and joined the tense and ready throwers. They heard voices and then several mechs, including the twins, walked into view.
"Attack!" Jazz yelled. Everyone behind the drifts leapt up and launched their ammo. The group of mechs was stunned as the snowballs flew towards them and hit them.
"Hey! What is this?!" Sunstreaker yelled. Him and his brother took cover and retaliated by throwing their own snowballs. Prowl, who happened to be walking by, got hit by wayward snowballs and decided that he had enough. Picking up an arm full of snow, he walked behind Jazz and Eclipse and dropped the snow on top of them. Eclipse gave a cry of surprise while Jazz shouted, "Hey!" The dragon femme turned to glare at him before launching a snowball into Prowl's face. Eclipse and Jazz bolted in different directions, shouting that they had a breech. The group of Autobots scattered as Prowl shook his head and glared about him.
"Jazz," he said lowly.
"Come Prowl, you can do better than that," Eclipse called down from a snowy perch. Prowl glared up at her.
"This is ridiculous." He stopped as another snowball came from the ambushed mechs. He picked up an abandoned snowball and hurled it at Sideswipe. However, it missed and caught Prime full in the chest. The Autobot leader stopped and turned to look at Prowl. The technician froze, not believing what had just happened.
"Sideswipe, please hand me one of those snowballs," he rumbled. Sideswipe meekly handed him one then scurried over to his brother. Prime lifted his hand and tossed the snowball. It soared high and came down on Firefly's helm. She gave a yelp of surprise then launched her ammo back. Prime ducked and the snowball hit Red Alert. Another wave of fighting broke out as everyone tossed snowballs at everyone else. Firefly gave cries of astonishment as flurries of weapons happen to target her. She bolted for cover and ran into someone, knocking them into a snowdrift. Firefly lifted her head to meet the astounded optics of her bond mate. She grinned shyly.
"Whoops. Sorry Ratch," she said, getting up. The CMO sat up to look at her but as he opened his mouth, a snowball caught him in the face. Firefly laughed and bolted away as Ratchet lunged at her. He raced after her, the femme taking shelter behind Waterfall. Waterfall gave shrieks of laughter with the femme medic as Ratchet tried to get to her.
"Firefly, come back here!" he shouted. Firefly darted away, leaving Ratchet to run after her. He caught up to her and as he reached her, he slipped, causing the two to fall into another snowdrift. Firefly shook with laughter under Ratchet. The CMO shook his head and managed to climb out of the drift. His bond-mate climbed out after him. By this time, most everyone was worn out and beginning to get cold. They began to trudge back to the Ark to crash in the rec room. Jazz walked up to Optimus, a sheepish grin on his face.
"Sorry boss. Didn't mean ta get ya in it as well," he said. Optimus chuckled.
"No harm done. Though some warning would be nice. But it was fun anyways." They shared a laugh. Jazz surprisingly didn't notice the person sneaking up behind him. He felt a shove and landed feet first into a snowdrift. He shook the snow off his helm and glanced up at the one guilty of pushing him. Eclipse stared back at him, her frame shaking in laughter. She shrieked and ran into the Ark as Jazz leapt up.
"Pardon me Prime but I gotta a femme ta get," he said, rushing after his mate. Prime simply shook his head and walked in as well. Down the halls, Jazz chased after Eclipse. She ran into their quarters as he tackled her to the ground. She twisted underneath him, trying to throw him off, laughing with him. She managed to get on her back and looked up at Jazz. She stopped struggling and leaned up and kissed him. The silver bot kissed her back then helped her stand up. She nuzzled his neck and leaned against him as Jazz wrapped his arms around her.
:Glad ya are feelin' better: he told her over the bond. Eclipse agreed with a small purr in her voice module.
:Come on. Everyone's gatherin' in da rec room: The two headed for the rec room talking and laughing. They met Waterfall as they got closer, hearing music playing.
"Sounds like someone already has the music covered," Eclipse said, nudging Jazz in the side. He shrugged.
"Oh well. Just means I get ta spend more time with my mate," he replied, slinging an arm over her shoulder. Waterfall laughter and darted ahead as Jazz slipped in one more kiss before joining the rest of the Ark's crew. Most of the residents were already in chairs or on couches, a drink in hand. Someone had convinced Optimus and Prowl to join and though Red Alert wasn't there, he had been treated to his own mug of warm Energon.
As the two made their way into the room, they went their own ways, Eclipse seeing how the other Guardians were doing and Jazz to see some of the other mechs. After an hour or so, as the consumption of high-grade began to grow. Jazz, who was talking to Prowl, turned his head as he sensed Eclipse's annoyance.
:Something wrong?: he asked her over their link.
:How much high-grade have you had?: she asked him. His confusion was clear over the link.
:Not much. Why?:
:Do me a favor. Don't drink anymore. I want to put Sideswipe were he belongs: she growled. Jazz laughed over their link.
:Go on. I'm sure dey will regret it: Jazz swore he could sense her evil grin.
:Oh they will Jazz. They will:
By the time the party was starting to wear down, there were two types of Autobots. Either they were offline from drinking too much high-grade or they were watching for the result in a drinking bet that had everyone who wasn't offline betting on who would come out on top.
Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and amazingly Lunar Eclipse were the last ones. Both the twins were tilting dangerously but Eclipse seemed completely unaffected. Ratchet, who had warned that he wasn't giving anything for handovers, watched the three, knowing that the twins were hopelessly doomed. He was her medic and he knew how her system worked. Under his arm, Firefly shifted slightly.
"She did tell him that she could out drink anyone," she mumbled, burying her head against his side. He smiled then winced as something hit the floor. He looked over to see that Sideswipe had fallen out of his chair and that Eclipse was smirking at him.
" 'Ey. Don't make fun of my twin," Sunstreaker slurred, standing up. He wobbled and then crashed to the floor next to his brother, offline. Eclipse's smirk grew as she finished the cube before her. She threw the empty cube away then calmly stood up and went over to her bond-mate.
"I'll be sure to think of something good for them to do since they lost," she said out loud, grabbing Jazz's hand. The silver bot stood up and walked out with her. Most of the mechs that were left either got up and went to their quarters or stayed and chatted with the bots left. Ratchet glanced down at his bond-mate to see that she was sound in recharge.
"Looks like she wore herself out," he thought to himself. He shifted Firefly so that he could pick her up. He lifted her into his arms, nodded his goodbye to Prowl then carried her out. Reaching the medbay, he went into their quarters and gently laid her down. He rubbed her helm watching her recharge. He stood up and went to the medbay, retrieving a bottle of a blue substance. He walked down the corridor to Jazz's room. Knocking on the door, it slid open to revel Jazz. He looked at him questionably. Ratchet handed him the bottle.
"Have her drink this. It will help keep her system processing that Energon. I don't want to see her in the morning with her systems out of function," he said. Jazz nodded and bid him good night. Ratchet returned to his quarters and lay down beside Firefly. The femme woke and looked at him.
"Ratch?" she asked, sensing his feelings. He looked at her and sat up, taking something from his subspace. Firefly sat up and took it from him, her optics wide.
"Ratch. It's beautiful," she whispered. The object was an eight-pointed star. It was made of a clear, hard substance that shone in the light. She held it with one hand and looked at Ratchet.
"Thank you," she said, allowing him to pull her into a hug as he rested his head on hers, his optics offline as she began to go back into recharge.
"Merry Christmas as the humans say," he told her. She smiled and fell into recharge.
In Jazz's room, the sound of soft music drifted into the air. He sat beside Eclipse as she recharged after having her drink the stuff Ratchet had given him. He stroked a wing, the motion having caused her to relax before she went. Her face was soft and free of care as she slept. Jazz smiled softly as he watched her.
"Merry Christmas," he said softly.
"What?!" the twins exclaimed the next day. Eclipse stood before them, a smile decorating her face.
"You heard me. You lost our bet so this is your price," she told them. The twins exchanged glances, Sideswipe looking sheepish and Sunstreaker looking murderous.
"I hate you," they said. Eclipse shrugged.
"Doesn't matter to me. But you better go get ready. You don't want to miss your audience," she said sweetly, walking away. They glared daggers after her.
Later that night
"On top of a handover, I have to do this? This is degrading. I blame you Sideswipe," Sunstreaker growled. The red twin gave him a look.
"I didn't think she could actually out drink us," he muttered. Laughter erupted from the mechs behind them. There they were, standing in front of a group of stunned Decepticons looking like femmes. Both twins were about to purge when they realized that some of the Decepticons had started to serenade them, unaware of whom they actually were. On the cliffs behind them, Eclipse and several of the mechs were trying to stifle their laughter so not to give the twins away.
"By Primus Eclipse. I didn't think that you were that evil!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
"Someone please tell me that they are getting a recording of this," she gasped, her air intakes shuttering from laughter.
"That's not a problem," a mech replied. They were in further stitches when Skywarp began to sing to the two "femme" twins.
"Dis is priceless!" Jazz exclaimed, "Makes me glad you're my mate so dat you wouldn't get me in one of ya pranks."
"Don't worry Jazz. I would never do something like this to you. Merry Christmas," she replied, falling down in laughter again as Skywarp teleported next to Sunstreaker and tried to touch him.
"Merry Christmas indeed love," he said.