-1Entering her room, she sat down on the bed and sighed heavily. Everything just seemed to be going down the tubes. Was all hope lost? "God… or Primus… either one, really. Please help us all. What are we to do?" A flicker of red light emanated from behind one of the storage closets. "What the…?" She stared for a long moment. "…Great, now I'm seeing things." The door burst open and there stood Starscream, smiling wickedly. "Oh, you only wish you were seeing things." She leapt to her feet. "Starscream!" A momentary thought crossed her mind that she sounded pretty stupid in that moment. Taking advantage of her surprise, he walked over to her and cupped her chin in his fingers. "Now, you nasty little thorn in my side, it is time for you to die," he hissed, grinning evilly as he brought out his cannon and aimed it at her head. She merely smiled as her blue highlights came to life and she spoke the same words as she had so many times before. "Stand down weapons." He went to shoot her but his cannon shut down. "Slag," he cursed and put it away, grabbing a knife instead. "Now, where were we?" Anger filled her. "…Screw you!" she snarled, slipping back into speaking like the human she had once been, the human she still was at heart. She would have reached out over the link but the link was being blocked. "What in the…" Starscream grinned at her. "That would be my master blocking your link to Megatron. Yes, I know about it." He laughed cruelly at the look on her face. "Help isn't coming, Zephyr. You're alone." Her eyes narrowed in defiant anger as her whip extended. "I'm not that weak little girl anymore, Starscream. I can fight my own battles!"
Starscream smiled as he ducked her whip and delivered the first and last blow with expert hands, deftly sliding the blade between two plates of her chest armor. Everything slowed down as energon squirted everywhere, a scream of pain and fear coming from her, and Zephyr fell backwards onto the bed, sprawled out for all the world to see. "Weak little girl or not, even on your best day you could never match me in a straight fight." He laughed and licked her energon off the knife, savoring the taste and soon hearing the door burst open, a familiar voice saying his victim's name. Megatron had come. "So… nice of you to join us," the knife-wielding intruder smirked. "Starscream!" Megatron bellowed and went to attack the one who not only dared to harm his beloved but also outright mocked him. Laughing triumphantly, Starscream vanished before the other Decepticon could so much as touch him. Thwarted, he roared a loud series of scathing and extremely creative expletives concerning Starscream's creators and the quality of the metal he was made of as others began to appear at the door. Zephyr, for her part, couldn't do much of anything save cling to life. His knife had nicked her main fuel line, and it took every ounce of power the All Spark could give her just to hold off death. For anyone else it would have been the end. The only thing sustaining her was the All Spark.
Ratchet quickly dashed in and cursed as well. "Her main fuel line's been slashed, I have to mend it somehow but I need material." The blue fire hummed frantically along her body, far stronger than any of them had ever seen it before, but it was already beginning to weaken. She was holding out, fighting with everything she had, but this was a fight she knew she couldn't win… "Hurry, Megatron, I need a chunk of your metal," Ratchet said, almost panicking. Megatron looked at the doctor oddly, but obliged and broke off a small chunk of metal, handing it to him and not minding the slight pain. Ratchet melted it over the fuel line and sealed it, beginning to start pumping in energon. Coughing out energon, choking, drowning in it, agony and terror ripping through her in violent shudders, each breath was a desperate struggle. She was practically in convulsions, clutching the bedframe in a death grip so powerful that the metal was bending and tearing under her claws. "Oh no," Ratchet said and tried to hold Zephyr down. The only thought to pass through her mind was that things really didn't look good.
Ratchet and Megatron tried to hold her down, her squirming making it difficult. "It will pass, I'm sure of it," Ratchet told Megatron. Her systems began to register that her energon levels had stabilized and were no longer dropping, so her thrashing eased off. Still she was in bad shape. Ratchet sighed and let Zephyr go. "She's stabilized, so she should be fine for now." Anyone else would have long since died, and both of them knew it. "…For now?" asked Megatron. "Well, she's still in pretty bad shape," Ratchet said, gesturing to the energon-soaked Zephyr.
The link seemed to hum with energy. The last time it had been like this had been before their first real meeting, when he'd been at the ocean's floor and she had been the only thing holding him to life. This felt the same, but the other way around. This time she was relying on him. Megatron felt like he was being drained of strength and his knees buckled. Seeing this, Ratchet caught him and helped him to sit down on the bed beside Zephyr, then quickly scanned him. "Eh, what's this? Your energy levels are decreasing." The pull wavered, decreased in strength. Deep down, Zephyr was fighting it, fighting the very thing keeping her alive because she didn't want to do this to him, even to save her life. Feeling this, Megatron looked down upon Zephyr and saw that she was indeed fighting it. He reached out and gently caressed her cheek. "Do not fight, my darling…" Her reply, when it came, was almost too soft for him to hear it, merely a thought since she had no strength to speak. //'…not even… to save myself…'// Megatron took her in his arms as gently as he could and did something he had never done before… he begged. "Please… do not fight it. I want you to live, Zephyr; and if that means draining me, then so be it." As the pull decreased, held in check by her will, so did her vitals. //She couldn't bear to do this. Sure it was for her own survival, but to hurt him like this…// He begged her again. "Zephyr, I would endure any pain for your safety, so please…" The very idea of what she was doing sickened her, as did the thought of her own weakness. //'I'll stand on my own, or not at all!'// Megatron was shocked at this, it made his spark wrench in pain at her words. Did she not need him? Sensing his shock at what she had said, she whispered an explanation. //'To spare you pain… I would gladly die…'// He shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see. "But we will both die if you do this…" Her control over the link wavered. She couldn't hold it, though she tried. Sensing this, he spoke up again. "Let me give you strength, my darling; there is no reason to fight." Slowly she released her hold on the link, not because she wanted to but because she had no other choice. //'Sorry… for all this,'// she murmured sleepily in her mind. Smiling gently at her sweet, self-sacrificing nature, the nature that had led her to save him in the first place, he reassured her. "It's not your fault." Consciousness was slipping away. She didn't know whether sleep or death awaited her. //'Don't… leave me… Megatron…'// He held her closer as she finally lost consciousness, going limp in his arms. "Never," he told her lovingly and meant it with everything he had. There was no response. Her control over the link was gone as what they had was shared between them. Megatron held her close and didn't let go, leaving the others to watch in the background. He didn't care what they did, or said, or thought. All was peaceful. She would live. Starscream had failed.
Ratchet left to give the two of them some alone time, but he reassured Megatron that he would be nearby in case anything happened. Closing the door behind him, he also gave them some privacy. Now it was just Megatron, alone, cradling the unconscious Zephyr in his arms and sharing his very life force with her. Losing her to Galvatron had shown him many things. She was his weakness, this he now knew. He had always despised weakness, especially coming from himself, but he was sort of surprised to find that, in this case, he didn't mind. I once believed love was weakness, he thought. There was a time when I would have considered my love for her a liability, and would have been furious with myself for feeling it. But now… A small smile crossed his face as he gazed down at where she nestled in his arms. Now I understand. Love is weakness, and strength, and strength in weakness. We are far stronger together than we could ever hope to be alone. Another thought came to him, one that had been nagging at the back of his mind for months now. If things had been different… If I had gotten the All Spark that day… What would have come afterward? Would I have been happy? He caressed her cheek again, his smile broadening a bit at the soft sigh of contented pleasure that escaped her as she felt the gentle touch. …I wouldn't have, he realized, his smile fading. Even if I had succeeded, it wouldn't have been enough. I would still have wanted more. For the first time ever, he realized that he was actually glad he had failed. This isn't a bad alternative. Another realization came to him. In a way, he hadn't failed. I have what I wanted… and it turned out to be what I had at the start. Only this time I have someone to share it with.
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I don't know when the next update might be… or even if there'll be one.
