For those who liked Road to Recovery, here's more back ground on Prowl's creator Pursuit and her life. For more on Flattop's background, do check out "Tales to Last a Lifetime" by TiryaKing... also right here on ffnet.

For those not in the know, she is Prowl's creator, hails from Praxus and has a similar physical structure to him in that she's monochromatic (black and light grey), has doorwings and a red chevron. Her alternate mode on Earth is a Ford Street KA convertible (Google it) which is a very small, feminine car.

She is quite the maternal femme and has strong maternal instincts in that she will defend her creations (or whoever else she's fond of) with everything she has. She is a civilian, but can snipe when she needs to.

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Title: Loss And Gain
Fandom: Transformers G1
Characters/Pairings: Patrol, Prelude, Pursuit
Prompt: #018 Accident.
Rating: PG
Genre: Relationships – het, family
Word Count: 1,019
Summary: When one soul leaves this world, it allows for another to enter
Disclaimer: Transformers general concept is Hasbro's. Pursuit, Prelude and Patrol are mine.
Author Notes: Takes place just before the war spreads to the rest of the planet.

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The tiny fledgling spark glowed dimly within the small energy chamber and Patrol gazed at it in wonder and awe from where he lay in his berth. He still couldn't believe that such a beautiful little thing had come partly from him. It was smaller than he knew the average spark to be, but having tried so hard for so long to produce one, he was not going to complain about size. His only worry at the moment was whether it would survive till the body was ready.

An arm draped over his mid-section and he glanced over at his mate, who looked back at him with shining blue optics.

"Don't worry about the spark, love," she said softly. "She's strong, she'll survive."

Patrol quirked a bit of a smile. "You think it's a femme?"

"I know it is," she replied. "Call it instinct, but I just know it."

"And who am I to question that instinct, Prelude?" he asked.

"My wonderful, loving mate, that's who." She nuzzled him.

He kissed her. "And there's no greater femme I'd rather be bonded to, m'love."

She smiled at him, touched his cheek and moved to get up. He gently touched the energy chamber, then moved to follow her. Prelude was right, though she hadn't said any actual words. There was still work to be done on the body-shell before it could house a spark.

They'd have to make it smaller so that the little spark wouldn't be overwhelmed by the amount of energy required of it to power a larger body; and let it grow and develop on its own, replacing the plating accordingly till it – she – matured. A little femme of his very own, Patrol could hardly believe it.

"Patrol, I know you're excited, but the shell is not going to make itself," Prelude told him with a chuckle.

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry."

"Are you sure you can manage the rest by yourself?"

"I'll be fine, love. If anything goes wrong, and I hope to Primus nothing does, I'll call you."

Prelude nodded. "Alright. I'm posted to the fair today, they're having an exhibition by the fliers and they're expecting a large crowd, so I've got to help them keep things under control and make sure no one gets hurt."

"Sure you don't want my help?"

"Love, your idea of crowd control is exercising your rifle. I'll be fine. Besides, our sparkling needs her body."

"Be careful then." He kissed her.

"Always am, love." She kissed him back. "Take care of our little."

"Always will."

Prelude left and Patrol spent much of the orn diligently working on the sparkling's body. He gave her the pretty, graceful doors similar to his mate's, and fashioned a sharp red chevron for her that was something like his. He only stopped now and then to check on the spark and make sure it was properly energized.

Sometime later he heard the loud roar of flier engines overhead and soon after, what sounded like a small explosion. A couple of breems passed before he heard sirens screaming away in the distance. Fear, and a good deal of pain, suddenly gripped his spark and he dropped to his knees.

"Primus, no…" he murmured. "No, please…."

There was a knock on the door, and he stumbled numbly towards it, hoping beyond hope that he would see his mate outside.

"There was an accident at the fair," the mech on the doorstep told him. "One of the fliers malfunctioned and crashed into the med area. Prelude was treating an injury when it happened and took the brunt of it. We tried to save her, but she didn't make it. I'm very sorry."

His mate… his beautiful, loving Prelude… gone…

… Patrol spent the next few orns in a numb, listless daze, just sitting in the main room of their home and doing nothing – not energizing, not recharging. The place just seemed so silent and lonely without her. He had claimed her body and done all the rites, and now there was nothing left to do. Nothing he wanted to do.

Then a shrill beeping from his room startled him out of his stupor. Heading inside he saw the little spark flickering in its chamber, looking to be in obvious distress. Primus, how could he have forgotten?! He hurried over and switched the chamber to the back up power while he rebooted the main supply.

There was no way in the Pit he was going to lose this femme, too – his sparkling, the only thing he had left.

"I'm so sorry, little one."

Patrol berated himself for wallowing so much in his grief that he had nearly come to neglect the most precious thing he had right now. He owed it to all of them to see that this little one had a healthy, happy life ahead of her. He looked at the spark, relieved to see it slowly strengthening to its usual glow.

"I promise you, little. I wont let any harm come to you."

… From that point on, Patrol channeled everything he had into building and completing the body-shell, to the point of bringing down an engineer to make sure everything was ready to house a spark.

Finally, one orn, he lifted the little spark out of its chamber and held it in his hands for a moment, feeling its soft warmth on his fingers, before carefully placing it into the spark chamber and sliding the cover closed. Then he waited in anticipation.

The body twitched as the spark began to alter it to its requirements, sliding armor around and configuring systems to its needs. Patrol watched all this intently, for the first time in vorns feeling hope and love grow in his own spark. At last the optics lit up with a pretty, pale blue glow and he felt his own optics burn. They were just like Prelude's… same color, too.

He smiled down at the sparkling as their optics met and he saw recognition in them, gently stroking her head.

"Hello, little Pursuit," he said. "I'm Patrol, your creator."

And I love you.

END.