Everything was silent on Delphi... Too quiet, to anyone that had lived there long enough to know it was usually bustling about with activity. But anyone could tell that there was something off, just by looking at the buildings. Buildings that usually shown like polished chrome in the setting sunlight, but were now a sickly brown, covered in layers of rust that had begun to eat away at the city only a few joors ago...
There was only one way that the sudden rust epidemic could've started... Some mech engineered it, unleashed it on the city in petty vengeance. Pharma. The jet had been a medic, had sworn an oath to never cause injury or illness, and had gone back on that oath more than once.
There were still frames around, looking as if they had been going about their everyday lives when they had suddenly fallen to the rust eating away at them... Their frames stiff and hard, some looking as if they were still walking, others frozen where they had writhed on the ground in pain... Not even the sparklings had been spared this terrible fate... And one mech knew who's fault it was.
Pharma...
Pharma escaped Delphi...
The mech repeated it over and over in his helm like a mantra, dazedly stumbling down the halls that had once been a major medical building, rust seeping into his joints, a grinding noise shattering the eerie silence as he wandered between the frozen bodies, rusted nearly beyond recognition...Frames that had belonged to friends, friends that no longer lived or felt, frames frozen as the rust continued to eat away at the cold, dead metal.
Thump. Drag. Thump. The lone mech dragged one leg behind him, the rust having eaten through so much of the inner workings that it was but a dead weight now. The mech knew he wouldn't survive much longer. He knew he would perish just as the others had, crying in pain... First Aid had tried to comfort those he could even as the rust had eaten away at his spark, but him? He had no one left to comfort...
Making his way through the bodies, taking little care to step over or stumble around. It wasn't as if they would be feeling every again, the dying mech searched among them for any sign of life, even though recognizing who the frames had belonged to was nearly impossible. One, however, was still alive, it's voice hoarse and cracking, popping as it spat static in an attempt to speak between lips that had all but rusted away. "Ratchet..." It croaked, the medic swaying where he stood, attempting to see the rusted form clearly...
"Drift." Ratchet ground out, stumbling towards the mech that lay propped up against the wall, falling to the ground beside the ninja mech, whimpering in relief. Even if Drift was in pain, Ratchet could only feel grateful that he didn't have to offline alone in his pain, selfish as it sounded. "Drift..." He rasped, dragging himself up alongside the once-white mech, pulling close, helm moving to rest on the brittle chassis.
"R-Ratch-..." Drift groaned, optics gone, one finial nearly dissolved as he moved his servo to rest it on Ratchet. "Th-thank P-p-primus your o-online." The ex-con spoke in a broken tone, Ratchet having trouble both hearing him or even deciphering the words... If they could even be called that now. "I-I-I'm not st-strong enough to o-offline alone l-l-like this."
Ah... So he hadn't been the only one aching for comradeship in his final moments. Ratchet just moved his servo to interlace his digits with Drift's, optics shut. Earlier, it might've hurt, just like any kind of touch to his rusting frame, but now? Now he had no nerves to feel with. "M-Me neither." Ratchet spoke in a breathy tone, as if it would be the last words he'd ever speak, but that wouldn't be... He couldn't offline without saying what he needed to. "D-Drift..." Ratchet wished he could move to look directly into Drift's face, but he was too far gone to move now, so he just lay where he was, against the younger mech. "L-l-love you... D-Drift." He whispered, spark guttering out silently... Unknown to Ratchet, Drift fell offline directly after he did, struggling to form words, his servo giving the smallest squeeze to the old medic's. "I-i-i... Know..." He murmured, helm falling to one side as he lost himself to the darkness of oblivion.