Chapter 2

It took a while, but finally I managed to crank out chapter 2! I wanted to say thank you to those who have followed, favorited, and left reviews. It means more to me than you could possibly know.

(Also, in case anyone was confused, the start of the last chapter was only a nightmare Sideswipe's mind conjured up when he passed out after having been reached by the medical team and taken off the battlefield. The beginning of this chapter focuses on Sunstreaker's memory on how the incident actually happened.)

Sunstreaker slammed his plasma blade through the spark the opponent in front of him and tossed the body aside carelessly, reaching for his twin along the bond. Sideswipe answered the silent inquiry, though the response was distracted.

Sunstreaker turned to watch as his brother bore down on his own enemy, a feral smile on his lip plates that would better be called a snarl. Sideswipe needed no help from his twin and so Sunstreaker turned his gaze elsewhere, having seen movement near where his brother was fighting. His gaze scanned the battlefield, trying to pinpoint the source of the movement he'd seen. He optics settled on a nearby disturbance and his spark stopped cold.

A decipticon the two had all but gutted was struggling to right himself as he bled out in pool of his own energon, his red, hate filled optics focused on Sideswipe. Trepidation filled Sunstreaker's spark and he felt a fleeting thought pass through him that they should have decapitated the bot. He saw the con powering up his plasma canon and aim it at Sideswipe's exposed back. At that close range the damage would be fatal.

Sunstreaker didn't think. He took off at a sprint at his twin, bellowing for Sideswipe to move.

It was like he was watching everything in slow motion. He saw his brother finally gained the upper hand on his opponent and gutted him, turning to face Sunstreaker with a look of confusion crossing his features, unaware he was giving his attacker the perfect opening at his back. He sensed the moment Sideswipe picked up on desperation, his twin's eyes widening in shock. Sunstreaker saw the charge lighting up the plasma canon, watched the sudden flare of light from the discharge as the con fired.

Sunstreaker slammed into his twin and it sent the other flying back with a startled shout. He barely had time to register his relief before pain ripped through his chest dangerously close to his spark chamber. He watched as Sideswipe's optics widened in dawning horror as the plasma shot tore through his armor and protoform.

He collapsed to the ground with his eyes facing skyward, hearing an enraged bellow of fury as Sideswipe lost control and their berserker coding activated. The sounds of carnage ensued, but it seemed so far away to Sunstreaker.

At first there was pain, but soon that started to fall away. Then there was relief at having made it in time. Briefly there was fear. Fear at leaving Sideswipe to survive alone in this Primus forsaken war... If Sideswipe even managed to survive being separated from his twin. Numbly he sent a prayer to a god he didn't believe in, asking Primus to watch over his brother and that hopefully Sideswipe could forgive him one day.

Then everything started to fade. He could feel himself growing cold as the corners of his vision dimmed.

Then...

Then there was nothing.

Sunstreaker opened his optics to the stark white of the medbay ceiling. A cursory inspection to their bond revealed that Sideswipe was still deep in recharge, carefully plastered against his side (ever mindful of his wounds even in sleep) and venting quietly. Sunstreaker's attention was taken away from his sleeping twin when he felt a careful brush of a familiar field against the edge of his own. He shifted his gaze to find Ratchet standing nearby, gaze piercing and assessing as he looked over Sunstreaker's form, subtly inspecting his healing injuries from a distance.

"Bad dreams?" The CMO inquired lightly, voice soft so as not wake the red twin curled against Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker's lip-plates thinned and he grunted a soft affirmative, shrugging a shoulder. "Hard to forget it."

Ratchet hummed and took a quiet few steps closer to the edge of the berth, idly checking over the input of the machines still hooked up to Sunstreaker. "Indeed it is." The medic turned his gaze back to the frontliner, eyes narrowing in consideration. "If you wish," he offered slowly, voice tinged at the edges with skepticism. "I could administer a mild sedative—"

Sunstreaker's engined turned over in an involuntary growl, the sound soft but a definite negative. The golden twin blinked and exvented a near silent sigh, forcing himself to calm and telling himself he knew the older mech meant no harm by the offer. "No, I've slept enough."

Ratchet accepted the reasoning with an easy nod. He took no offense to the reflexive aggression from the golden twin, having known him long enough not to be affected by his sometimes mercurial and defensive temperament. "I expected you'd say as much."

Sunstreaker glanced down to Sideswipe who started to stir briefly against him. "Does he remember?" He asked, voice soft as he sent a pulse to help settle his twin back down into slumber.

"About what happened back on the battlefield?" Ratchet returned, crossing his arms as he looked to the red twin. "Yes, but from what he's told me, it's... fragmented. All he seems to remember is seeing you go down before the coding took over. Then it all gets fuzzy and everything begins to blur together."

Sunstreaker nodded, knowing himself how their coding had the tendency to short out and muddle their memories when they lost control.

"He... also mentioned having nightmares," Ratchet added after a moment of silence, unsure if Sideswipe had brought the topic up yet or not. "Or rather, nightmare. He only ever mentioned having a reoccurring one about—"

"Me offlining, I know," the golden twin interrupted softly, smoothing a hand over Sideswipe's helm. "After I woke up and we merged, I saw it."

The medic grunted, shooting the frontliner a sidelong glance. Considering the damage Sunstreaker had sustained from the blast, he was lucky his spark-chamber hadn't been damaged. Ratchet momentarily considered scolding the younger mech for straining himself after just having woken up—with welds still healing no less!—but quickly brushed it aside. He couldn't fault the pair for merging after having been essentially separated for over a week. So in the end he let the matter drop.

Not wanting to think of how close Sunstreaker could have came to losing his life (the thought made him feel physically ill), Ratchet changed the topic.

"You'll be discharged in an orn or so," he informed the other as he turned to record his vitals on a data pad sitting nearby. The old medic didn't miss the near silent exvent of relief Sunstreaker released and he smirked to himself in amusement, knowing how much both twins hated being confined to bed rest in the medbay—or anywhere else, for that matter.

"Don't get excited," Ratchet warned and turned back to face his patient. "You'll both be restricted to light duty for the next week or so until your internals have fully healed, Sunstreaker." He raised a hand, silencing whatever the golden mech was preparing to say. "No, I don't want to hear it—you might be awake, but you're not out of the danger zone yet. If you're not careful, you could reopen your wounds, cause more internal bleeding, and injure yourself worse than before. Your system is still recovering from the trauma of what you went through and straining yourself will not help anything."

Sunstreaker looked like he still wanted to argue, so Ratchet pulled out his ace in the hole.

"Besides, you don't want to give Sideswipe anymore reason to worry, do you?"

That made the golden twin snap his jaw shut, gaze dropping to his brother as the fight bled out of his form while his expression softened at the edges. Ratchet knew it was a low blow and a cheap shot to use Sideswipe against his brother, but one way or another he was going to make sure Sunny didn't overtax his systems and land himself back in the medbay. If there was one thing Ratchet could count on, it was the pair always making the other their top priority.

After a few moments Sunstreaker focused back on Ratchet with narrowed optics. The look in his optics told the older mech Sunstreaker knew exactly what Ratchet had pulled, but while his lips were a thin line and he didn't look pleased by the manipulation, he wasn't actively arguing.

Ratchet counted it as a victory.

Satisfied that other would behave himself, Ratchet gave a nod while making sure to keep his satisfaction out of his field.

(It wouldn't do to give Sunstreaker a reason to be difficult.)

Finishing up his notes in the data pad, Ratchet made a mental note to inform Prime and Prowl that the pair would be on light duty for the next several orns. He didn't expect any objections from Optimus, but Prowl might be another matter entirely. The twins were very efficient at what they did and everyone knew just how much Prowl and that damned battle computer of his favored efficiency.

The medic grumbled under his breath, huffing through his vents as he forced that line of thought away. He flicked his gaze back up to Sunstreaker and his sleeping twin, about to inform Sunstreaker he would also be confined to drinking medicinal energon until he was fully recovered, but stopped short when he saw how the golden twin's optics had begun to dim and his venting started to slow.

Ratchet took that as his cue to leave and signed the data pad before setting it on the counter and heading to the door, making up an excuse that he needed to go check on another patient. He knew better than to point out Sunstreaker's obvious exhaustion, or else the mech might take offense and stay awake out of spite and stubbornness.

And as Ratchet made his way out of the room, he cast one glance over his shoulder at the pair. A ghost of a smile found its way to his lips when he saw Sunstreaker's helm resting atop Sideswipe's, already having fallen back into recharge. The CMO turned away, pinging a command to dim the lights as the door slid quietly shut behind him.