Title: The End of the Rainbow.
Author: zea_taylor
'verse: G1
Gestalt: Aerialbots
Rating: suitable for all audiences, no particular warnings
Summary: Fireflight isn't sure what he'll find at the end of the rainbow, but he knows he has to keep looking.
A/N: Story originally posted on livejournal, in response to the gestalt_love community's June 2014 Rainbow Connection challenge. Comments, criticisms and suggestions, no matter how brief, always welcome.
"What's that?"
"What's what, 'Flight?" Fireflight's question had been full of awe and wonder and delight. The impatient, half-resigned tone in Skydive's reply dampened but couldn't entirely smother those emotions.
A ribbon of colour stretched from one side of the world to the other, rising far overhead in an arc that felt so close Fireflight reached out to try and touch it. It pierced the dull grey clouds that had made this day the dreariest they'd yet endured on this strange new world. The colours glowed bright and clear in the light of the newly returned Sun. That white light, dispersed into a graduated spectrum, formed an arch that stretched from horizon to horizon as the dusty soil steamed underfoot.
After a day trapped in the Autobots' Ark by the rare rainfall, listening to his brothers bicker and feeling Silverbolt's rising despondency through the gestalt bond, Fireflight had been desperate to grab the last few rays before the Sun set. He hadn't expected to encounter anything quite so fascinating, or so beautiful.
"It's pretty."
"It's just a spectral refraction arc." If it hadn't been for his own irritation at Slingshot and Air Raid's arguments, Skydive would still be inside with his processor buried in a book. He looked about as impressed by the beautiful sight as he was by sticky mud clinging to his pedes, "Total internal reflection of solar radiation in atmospheric water droplets, causing differential dispersion due to the range of wavelengths in the optical…"
"It's pretty." Fireflight didn't often talk over his brothers, or let them see when he was bothered. Today he followed his words up with his best glare. Of them all, Skydive was probably the least likely to take a hint any less obvious.
"It's called a rainbow."
The new voice brought both Aerialbots to a sharp halt. The step they took, bringing them together shoulder to shoulder against the non-aerial, non-gestalt Autobot, was purely instinctive. They hadn't been on this world long enough to be used to others. Even if they had, Air Raid and Slingshot's curiosity about the Seekers hadn't exactly endeared them to the Ark's crew.
"Oh! Bumblebee!" Fireflight didn't precisely relax. The other was still a stranger, still a grounder too, but he'd always seemed kind of nice, and that was better than most of them. Sometimes 'Flight got the idea that 'Bee kind of understood where he was coming from, playing peacemaker and getting on with duty and stuff while all he wanted was to explore and enjoy their new world.
The other scout – yes, Fireflight and Bumblebee had that in common too, didn't they? – smiled, his servos spreading wide in a gesture of apology for startling them.
"Good to see you guys out and about."
"Well, Raider and Slings were arguing all day, and it was stuffy, and I was getting kind of fed up, and Silverbolt was thinking he could do without seeing any of us for a week, and even 'Dive was kind of tired of being stuck inside." Fireflight clamped his jaw shut, not needing Skydive's incredulous look to warn him to stop. The explanation had spilled from him all on its own, as if he was desperate just to speak to someone outside his occasionally claustrophobic team.
Someone laughed. Not Bumblebee. The Autobot was looking at 'Flight and Skydive with startled, rather worried optics. No, the laughter had come instead from the organic sitting on Bumblebee's yellow shoulder plates, and it didn't have the sarcastic edge he'd expect from Slingshot, or the vindictive pity he sometimes felt from other Autobots. The adolescent human male was grinning, his expression friendly and open.
"Sounds like me and Carly after studying for midterms. We go stir crazy."
Fireflight's servo twitched, half extending as he fought down the urge to touch the human, just to see how it felt. Warning looks from Skydive and Bumblebee reminded him just how bad an idea that was. Humans were squishy, although Silverbolt said Slingshot shouldn't use that term in front of Autobots and Firefly guessed he'd better not either. This one, Spike Witwicky, was around a lot, it seemed. Maybe one day, Fireflight would ask him or Bumblebee why 'squishy' was a rude word. Today he had other questions.
"A rainbow?" he repeated, turning back to look at the unexpected vision. The Sun drifted behind a thin screen of cloud and the colours faded. Fireflight gasped in disappointment, and a moment later the Sun reemerged, the violets and reds turning almost luminous as they strengthened again. "It's so pretty. Did Primus put it there?"
"Some humans think so. They say it's a promise about something." Bumblebee shrugged, one hand coming up to steady Spike as he rocked. "We don't see them often out here. Portland has more rain so you can see them there if you really want to."
"Yeah." The human nodded. He had his tiny servos curled into 'Bee's plating, otherwise unconcerned by his unsteady seat. "I guess some folks do reckon it's a sign from God." He paused, glancing back at the two Aerialbots with a grin. "But other people think they're a lot more fun. See how the rainbow touches the ground, there and there?" He pointed with his small, pink servos, his tone becoming conspiratorial. "Well, if you get to the end of the rainbow, you'll find a pot of gold, or even a leprechaun who'll grant you anything you wish!"
"Fireflight." Skydive's servo gripped his brother's arm before 'Flight could do more than warm his thrusters. 'Dive shook his head, his tone more reasonable than 'Flight was feeling right now. "Don't bother. Look, it's fading already."
Fireflight looked. The urge to take flight and find that rainbow's end dissolved into disappointment. The rainbow was getting weaker by the klick, its blues already fading into near invisibility against the cerulean sky. Even he could see that Skydive was right. That didn't stop his wings sagging, his vents hitching a little as he fought back his regret.
Bumblebee reached out, slowly and giving the Aerialbot time to evade if he wanted, before patting 'Flight's arm.
"Don't worry, Fireflight. There'll be another chance. Give it time. You'll find what you're looking for. I'm sure of it."
"We could have won that battle!"
"Just let it go, Air Raid."
"They called us in too late. We could have been there half a joor earlier if they'd just bothered to tell us what they were doing."
"We were needed out on patrol." Skydive's voice on the radio may not sound as weary and resigned as Silverbolt, or as irate as Air Raid, but Fireflight could feel his most reasonable brother in the gestalt bond. He knew that even 'Dive was doubtful about the farce they'd just endured.
"Routine patrols! Holding us on baby reins, within spitting distance of the Ark! Like we're ever going to see action that way! Slagging Autobots!"
"Slingshot."
Silverbolt's exhaustion spilled through his quiet rebuke and out into the gestalt bond. The silver-grey Concorde quite definitely wasn't criticizing Optimus Prime, or even Prowl, directly. He never would. He wasn't exactly arguing with his brothers' points either.
"Do you think they'll ever start trusting us again?"
One day Fireflight would learn to think before he spoke aloud. His brothers had already been frustrated and tired. Now the gestalt bond roiled, too many emotions spilling through them with too much power for the five-strong team to entirely suppress. After the unspoken reminder of their last encounter with Starscream and co, the edges of anger and fear were understandable. Their sense of bitterness and betrayal lent a sour taste to the cocktail. The eagerness to settle the score shot through it like acid. But it was the quiet, half-there sense of unfulfilled longing that riddled their whole like the poison it was.
"They have good reason not to," Skydive noted, his voice reluctant.
Air Raid was silent. It was Slingshot who fought back against the shared emotion, his tone defiant.
"Hey, they were the ones treating us like scrap, and they still are! Just because the Seekers are Pit-bound slaggers doesn't mean the Autobots are any better. I say we – "
"We all know what you say." There was a sharp note in Silverbolt's interruption – a harmonic that cut through Fireflight all they way to his bonded spark, reminding him and his other brothers just who was speaking. Their gestalt leader flared his ailerons, letting his turbines drop to a deeper growl. "We're staying with the Ark."
Of them all, Silverbolt had been the only one who never doubted that decision. Now, Fireflight, Skydive and even Air Raid echoed their unconscious loyalty into the bond. It took a long moment for Slingshot's corner of the gestalt to come into grudging line. None of them relaxed until he did.
Slingshot growled. His VTOL thrusters kicked in, putting a bit of altitude between him and his brothers where they followed 'Bolt's low-flying lead.
Silverbolt sighed, his tone softening. "Look, we're off-duty now for a few joors. Why don't we all do our own things? Spread our wings and clear our processors a bit. The way those clouds look, we're going to be rained in again as soon as we get back."
"Sounds like a plan." Air Raid kicked in his thrusters, climbing away from their formation and sweeping across Slingshot's nosecone in an obvious taunt. Slingshot swore, flaring his wings and banking on a sharp turn as he accepted the challenge to a half-serious pursuit.
It was a wrench to see them go, just as it had been a wrench to have them here and arguing. Neither was right. Neither did anything to settle the angst in Fireflight's spark at his brothers' uncertain rebellion.
It felt sometimes like Vector Sigma, or Alpha Trion, or even Primus – whoever it was who made them happen – had given up on some plan the moment he'd seen what he'd ended up with. The five of them were aimless, confused and struggling for meaning.
Skyfire, who was kind and wise and so old that Fireflight couldn't even imagine all the vorns, said it was because they were so new and young. He kept telling Silverbolt they'd find their wings soon, and know what Primus wanted for them. Maybe that was true, but 'Flight couldn't help mirroring just a shade of Air Raid's impatience. He kind of wished Primus would get his act together and give them at least a clue where they were going.
"Hey, what's that?" Silverbolt veered, ever-thicker water vapour streaming in thin clouds from his wing-tips. Fireflight could feel the moisture on his own plating now, but the sun still shone brightly from behind them, warming them and glinting off their cockpits and Silverbolt's bright, white frame.
It took a moment for 'Flight to figure out where Silverbolt was looking, another few seconds to understand what he was seeing.
It wasn't quite the same, seen from up here. The two ends of the rainbow seemed to have curved inwards, joining together to form a perfect ring. Their shadows, cast on the low altitude clouds rising from the ground below, were haloed first in blue and then yellow, orange and a broad ring of red, encasing them in a blaze of colour.
"It's a rainbow!"
Fireflight accelerated without waiting to tell his brothers, and didn't even notice when Silverbolt and Skydive fell in on his wing-tips.
""Flight?" Silverbolt sounded startled. "Where are you going?"
"I've got to follow it. I've got to get to the end!"
"It's an organic thing." Skydive's explanation came just in time to take the sting out of Silverbolt's worry. "Bumblebee's squishy… human… Spike was telling 'Flight some kind of story."
Silverbolt's quiet groan would be insulting, if Fireflight had processor-space for anything more than his target.
'Dive hummed quietly. "It didn't make a whole lot of sense," he admitted.
"I've got to get to the end," Fireflight repeated, firm and determined.
"Fireflight." Silverbolt flushed his vents, the sound audible over the comms. "It's a circle, it doesn't have an end."
That penetrated. And it was true. Fireflight had been so intent on heading into the circle of colour that he'd not really thought about that aspect of the phenomenon.
"We need to go lower," he decided, matching his actions to his words. Silverbolt was hardly going to object, and Skydive didn't comment as the three of them dived, breaking through the patchy, broken, cloud-layer. The rainbow sank towards the horizon as they did so, its base touching the ground and then its arms separating, spreading apart so its great sweep rested on two pillars of light.
"Ends, see?"
"Whoa," Silverbolt murmured, his approval tangible over the bond between them.
Skydive was feeling more than approval. His awe and uncertainty rippled through them, catching the attention of both his brothers.
"'Flight, look."
It shouldn't have been a surprise. 'Bolt and 'Dive probably knew where they were to the nearest mechanometer. Fireflight had been too intent on his pursuit to worry about anything quite so mundane.
Mount St Hillary rose from the rocky wastes of south west Oregon, its tall cinder cone distinctive and instantly recognizable. At its base, the huge, orange-yellow hull of the Ark could just about be seen, even at this distance. Through a break in the cloud layer, a shaft of sunlight illuminated the half-buried wreck, bathing it in a bright warmth. It shone like precious metal, like a lode of pure, unadulterated gold.
And overhead, to the right of the Aerialbot's flight path, the northern end of the rainbow spilled its blaze of coloured light down onto the very tip of the volcano they called home.
"What was it, Flight," Skydive asked, voice soft, "a pile of gold where the rainbow ends?"
"A place where wishes come true!"
They were probably mangling the story. Fireflight didn't care. For the first time since landing on this alien world, he was sure – really sure – of just where he was meant to be.
He could feel Silverbolt's confusion in the gestalt bond, and, more distantly, Air Raid and Slingshot wondering what was going on. It would take his brothers time to figure out what Fireflight had just seen, but they would. 'Flight had a promise from Primus to assure him of that.
Silverbolt waggled his wings a little, turning in a slow arc, giving up – for now – on even trying to understand his brothers. "Come on guys, let's go home, okay?"
"Okay." Skydive was still quiet, still thoughtful.
Fireflight laughed, the sound joyful and carefree.
"Yep. Let's go home."