Title: In The Moments Between
Verse: Transformers Prime
Rating: K+
Warnings: None
Pairings/Characters: Optimus/Ratchet
Notes: Spoilers for the episode "Sick Mind" if you have not seen it. And, as always, Transformers does not belong to me. No monetary gain came from this work of fan-fiction.
Prompt: Melee In March: #9 " When they ask me what I liked best, I'll tell them it was you."
Word Count: 542
OoOoOo
It was a cardinal rule of the universe, as old and venerable as time immortal, that the Matrix bearer should never be laid so low. It was to the one who held the wisdom and power of all who came before a glorious death in combat or a long life of leading their race to new and majestic heights. For Optimus to be stricken with the cybonic plague was unthinkable. It was a failure on the part of the universe. More important, to the physician at least, it was a failure on him.
His Prime, his leader, his...mate, was ill. Was dying. And there seemed to be nothing he could do personally to stop it. They were relying on the femme and the young scout to save his bonded. It wasn't right. It was his duty as Prime's consort to offer himself up to save their one hope. He was failing. Failing oh so miserably. If only it had been him. He would have been not so great a loss as Optimus would be.
"What troubles you, old friend?" The hand weakly grasping his own felt like condemnation. Here Optimus lie at the lip of the well and he was trying to comfort him. Ratchet could not have felt more a failure if the Prime started accusing him of disappointing the cause, of disappointing him. He could have handled that better, most likely.
"Forgive me, Orion. I could have... I should have... It should have been me. What am I compared to you?" Ratchet hung his head in shame.
Optimus gave him a weak smile, injured optic sparking slightly as it crinkled the edge. "Orion now, is it? I must be bad off indeed." He gave a pneumatic cough, the air wheezing through his vents. "Your loss would be felt as greatly as mine would be. The loss of one diminishes us all. And the loss of you would diminish me greatly. You and I are one, now and forever. It would pain me to go on without you."
"But you would find a way."
Another painful cough wracked the larger bot's frame and it was some moments before he was able to speak clearly. "As will you, should I pass into the well of sparks. Should my time come, should I find myself giving an account of my life to Primus, I will carry only one regret and ask but one boon of him."
"Oh?" Ratchet stroked Optimus' palm, the large hand dwarfing his own. They were alone now, they could afford to be open in this moment.
"My one regret," Optimus pulled the hand away, only to quickly replace it against his mate's cheek. He stroked the warm, living metal with a tenderness one so large should not possess, "My one and only regret, is that I did not have more time to spend with you. You have made this all worthwhile. Would I only have listened to you when you warned me against friendship with Megatronus..."
Ratchet placed a digit against his mate's lips, unwilling to hear anymore. "It is done, Orion, and we can not change it. Rest now, my beloved. Bumblebee and Arcee will return soon with the cure."
He let the I hope go unspoken.