In Two
by K. Stonham
released 27th October 2007

It was like a bad dream.

No, Prowl corrected to himself, it was a bad dream. There was no other explanation for the spectre in his quarters.

Power sparked between the two separated halves of the mech's body, luminous blue energon dripping to puddle on the berth and the floor below it. Silver hands flexed slowly, and blue optics came online.

"Heya, Prowl," Jazz said quietly. "Long time no see."

Jazz couldn't be here. And even if he was, with those injuries he couldn't be operational. It was illogical. It was impossible.

"Not a dream," Jazz said quietly. "Just stopped by to give you a message, Prowler."

"Don't call me that," he snapped automatically.

Jazz smiled, as he always did, like it was a victory.

"Hung around just long enough to see how it all went down," he said. "Be expectin' a message from Optimus soon."

"You found it?" Prowl asked in spite of himself.

Jazz nodded. "We did. Megatron, too."

Prowl's mouth dropped open a little before he caught himself and remembered that he was in recharge and this was just a dream.

"Not gonna ask?" Jazz crooned, teased.

He stood there impassively, crossing his arms.

"Come on," Jazz coaxed. "You know you want to. What, it's gonna kill you to give in?"

"It killed you," Prowl returned.

Jazz looked down at himself, at the two sections of his body. "Nah, that was Megatron."

"Megatron," Prowl replied flatly.

"Ol' bad-tempered bitch hisself," Jazz replied. "Tore me right in two. Tiny little outta tha way planet in the Gamma sector."

"This is not real," Prowl said aloud. "This is not possible. Nothing unreal exists."

"Sorry, Prowler," Jazz replied. "This is as real as it comes. Cube's gone, Meggy too, and Prime's callin' everyone home to Earth."

"Assuming this isn't a dream," Prowl said slowly, suspending his logic functions for just a moment, "what are you doing here? Why me?"

Jazz gave him the slow, lazy grin that was as much the siege-breaker's trademark as his visor. "Come on, Prowler, don't be askin' me that. You know why I'm here."

"If this is to harass me more--" Prowl started but was cut off as Jazz reached up, rocking forward on his ruined midsection to place a digit against Prowl's mouth.

He shook his head gently. "We could a' really had somethin', couldn't we've, Prowler?" he asked softly. "Did, once, before the war."

Prowl's circuits ran icy and he suddenly knew that this wasn't a dream. That had been so long ago that he'd almost forgotten it. He and Jazz hadn't spoken of it since they'd started calling themselves Autobots. In the fortunes of war, there was no place for companionship or love. "Jazz," he whispered.

Jazz's finger ran across Prowl's cheek. "Didn't hurt, Prowler," he said softly. "An' I don't regret a thing. Only wish we could'a had more time."

"Jazz..."

Jazz quirked a smile at him. "Gotta go, Prowl. Just remember, don't give up. There's everything still worth livin' for. The whole future..." His voice, and his touch, faded away to nothing.

Prowl woke, optical fluids leaking, vocal processors tight, his spark singing with pain.

After a few minutes he managed to sit up on his berth, and open a line to the bridge. "Sideswipe," he said, "plot a course toward the Gamma sector. And keep all channels open for incoming communications."

"Thought we were heading towards Rigel-5?" Sideswipe asked.

"Call it intuition," Prowl said.

"...You feeling okay?" their pilot asked, sounding concerned.

"I'll see First Aid," Prowl replied. "Change course anyway."

"Sure thing, Captain," Sideswipe grudgingly replied. "Just don't blame me later when you decide you were having a malfunction giving that order," he muttered.

Prowl closed the channel and forced himself to go to the medbay for an exam, hoping that First Aid would find something wrong with him.

Because later, standing on the bridge, listening to Optimus' message with closed optics, Prowl wished with all his leaden spark that it was only a bad dream.

Author's Notes

This was written for the livejournal ProwlxJazz's October 2007 challenge, off prompt #1, "Bad Dream." It had occurred to me that the fundamental problem with the pairing (aside, of course, from an absolute and utter lack of canon source for it) is that in either of the universes I know (G1 and the 2007 movie), one or the other of them ends up dead. This kind of puts a damper on the relationship...