As Harmony sat on the floor outside the med bay, she could hear Ratchet's frantic orders coming from the other side of the door. She could hear rapid footsteps, and then more yelling. She felt like her world was falling apart. I only just met my brother a few weeks ago, and now he's hanging by a thread. Why is life so cruel?! She buried her head in her arms and knees, and cried. Suddenly, she wasn't alone in the corridor. A lanky yellow mech sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders like Jazz did so often. She looked up, and saw that he, too, was on the brink of despair.
"Sunstreaker, is Sideswipe hurt too?"
"Yes, but not as badly as your brother." Sunstreaker let Harmony lean against him, letting her cry into his shoulder, and curl up into a ball against him like a youngling who just got hurt. He could sympathize with her. If he lost Sideswipe… He couldn't imagine what he would do.
"Sunny?"
"Yes, Harmony?"
"What was it like, living with your brother your whole life?" The question startled him. He hadn't really thought about it much, but he now started to replay his whole life in his processor.
"It was… not very lonely. We did almost everything together. We lived together on Cybertron, and we both left Cybertron together on the Ark." Sunstreaker could feel the pulse of Harmony's spark as she leaned against him even more. He let her, knowing that this was probably hitting her pretty hard. If it was Sideswipe in Jazz's place… He couldn't finish the thought. Suddenly, Wheeljack stuck his head out the med bay doors.
"Harmony, your brother is awake, and he wants to see you."
"He's going to be all right?" Harmony quickly disentangled herself from Sunstreaker, and dashed to the door. Sunstreaker watched her disappear into the med bay, and then heard music coming from the doors. He listened, and recognized it as a human song called Amazing Grace.
Amazing grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come,
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
Sunstreaker leaned against the wall, listening, as the song drew to a close. How does Earth music manage to have such depth? He then saw Wheeljack come out again, followed by Sideswipe, now fully repaired. Before he could stop himself, Sunstreaker jumped off the floor, and gave his twin a fierce hug.
"Sideswipe, don't you EVER scare me like that again!" Sunny kept his brother in his embrace for a few more seconds, then let go. Together, the two brothers walked back to their quarters, talking about irrelevant things like whether red is better than yellow, and where on Cybertron they would go when the war is over. Wheeljack watched them go for a little bit, then turned to go back into the med bay.
"Jazz, I was so worried about you! What happened back there?" Harmony was holding her brother's hand as he lay on the medical berth.
"Well, I saw Megatron aiming for Prime with his fusion cannon, and I went into vehicle mode, and knocked ol' Megs onto his rear end by ramming into one of his feet. Then, one of the Stunticons, Motormaster, shot out one of my tires, and I went rolling fast down a hill. I transformed back into my root mode halfway down, and when I got to the bottom of the hill, I was already pretty banged up, and I had puncture wounds from each time I hit a rock heading down. And as if that wasn't enough, Megatron shot me in the chest with his fusion cannon. TWICE. I don't remember anything after that. I went into emergency stasis from my injuries."
"I'm just glad you're going to be ok." Harmony stroked the top of her brother's head, and put his hand against the side of her face.
"Harmony, you'll have to get out now. I need to finish the rest of Jazz's repairs. You can see him again after I'm done." Ratchet came back over, and put Jazz back into stasis.
"All right." After one last look at her brother, Harmony walked out of the med bay, and went to the quarters she shared with him. Once she got to her room, she sat down on her berth, and pulled out a broken radio from under it. She had been trying to fix it in her spare time, because Jazz liked music, and she wanted it to be a surprise for him. She worked on it whenever she woke up, while Jazz was still in recharge. Oh, scrap. I'm going to need a wire from Wheeljack's lab. She snuck down the corridors, and slipped into the lab. Wheeljack was there, working on some new invention, and he turned when he heard her come in.
"Harmony! What an unexpected surprise! Do you need anything?" Wheeljack was as cheerful as ever, and Harmony quickly told him the kind of wire she needed for her surprise present for Jazz. "I think I have a few of those around somewhere…one sec." He rummaged around in a box in the middle of the floor, and soon pulled out a wire. "Here's one!" He handed it to her, and she thanked him, and left.
When she got back to the quarters she shared with her brother, they were still empty. She pulled out the radio again, and started to measure how much wire she needed. Ok…this goes there…and that goes there…I think it's fixed! She quickly closed the back of the radio, and started to turn the dials. She heard a rush of static, then she heard classical music flowing into the room. The radio worked! She turned it off, and quickly hid it under her berth again. She would save it for later, when Jazz is fully repaired. Then, she heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Harmony opened the door, and saw nobody at the door, but there were footsteps hurrying away. She looked down, and saw a small package on the floor. What's this? She picked it up, and brought it into her quarters. When she opened it, she saw that it was a datapad, and when she turned it on, the screen flashed with a picture of Jazz and the twins fighting in a battle. When she pressed a button, it changed to a picture of Jazz and Prowl hiding in a building on Cybertron. Each time she pressed the button, the screen display changed to another picture of Jazz with someone else on a mission. As she set the datapad on the recently installed shelf above her berth, she heard the door open, and Jazz walked in, now fully repaired.
"JAZZ!" She ran at him, and jumped up a little as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm glad you're ok now!"
"I'm glad I'm ok now too, little sis. Did anything happen while I was at the battlefield?"
"Oh! Yes, there were three Decepticons that flew over the base, and one teleported right in! Jazz, I was so scared! But I shot him! I grabbed Prowl's gun and I shot him!"
"You shot SKYWARP?!" Jazz was stunned. He had not expected his little sister to be trained to use a gun at all. Let alone be able to use one to shoot the one Decepticon able to warp to different locations in the blink of an optic.
"Oh, so his name was Skywarp? He was going to try to take me away! But Prowl hit him! He knocked him away!" Then, Harmony let go of Jazz, and dashed over to her berth. "I have something for you, brother." She pulled out the radio that she had just finished repairing, and gave it to him.
"You fixed that radio that Wheeljack threw out? You're an amazing little sister!" Jazz hugged her with one arm, holding the radio in the other. He then saw Sunstreaker peeking around the corner of the door at them, and when Sunstreaker saw he had been spotted, he quickly got out of sight. Jazz looked at Harmony, but she hadn't noticed Sunstreaker.
"Jazz, why did the war have to come to this planet?" Harmony looked him in the visor, with a puzzled and sad look on her face.
"It wasn't our fault. The Decepticons caused us to crash here, over 4 million years ago. We've been offline for most of that time, until about ten years ago." Jazz stroked the back of his sister's head, and then they stopped hugging each other, and Jazz put his new radio on one of his shelves. "What say we go to the rec room for now? I need to get some energon."
"That's a wonderful idea, brother!" They walked side-by-side to the rec room, and they once again sat at the same table as Sunny and Sides.
"Hi, Jazz! Hi, Harmony!" Sideswipe was in a good mood, now that he was out of the med bay. His brother looked equally happy, and perhaps even a little relieved, that his brother was all right.
"Hi, you two!" Harmony had a happy smile on her face, and her smile seemed to make the entire room a little brighter. "Hey, how about after Jazz and I have some energon, we have that dance party?"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Jazz sat back down with an energon cube in each hand, and he handed one to his little sister. "What do you think, twins?"
"I'll go for it!" Sideswipe suddenly got that goofy grin on his face again, and Sunstreaker nodded in agreement.
That night, the quarters that Jazz shared with his sister were filled with colored light and Earth music. Somehow, Harmony ended up in a dancing showdown with Sideswipe, and the other two laughed when Sides couldn't keep up with her. Harmony seemed to Sunstreaker to have all the gracefulness of Earth trees as she swayed and danced to the music. He couldn't help feeling a rush of affection for her, but he dared not let it show, because he didn't know how Jazz would react to it.
"Come on, Sunny! Dance with me!" Harmony was having a great time, and she soon swept Sunstreaker up into a world of dancing and music. He was mesmerized by her, but he did his best to dance with her in time with the music. When he glanced at Jazz, he seemed to have an amused look on his face as he watched his little sister dance with the taller Lamborghini. Somehow, a few others joined in the party, and Harmony ended up dancing with other mechs as well. She danced with Mirage, she danced with Bumblebee, and she even danced with Optimus Prime! And all the while, she was happier than she had ever been in her life.
"Prime, isn't it amazing how she can draw mechs into dancing with her?" Jazz looked over at his leader, who was taking a break from dancing with Harmony.
"It is, Jazz. Your sister truly is an amazing femme." Optimus watched as Harmony danced with both Sunstreaker AND Sideswipe at the same time. Then, everyone was tired, and they had all had their fill of fun. Mirage left first, turning invisible and heading out the door, and soon after him, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime left together. Sideswipe left without his brother, and Sunstreaker was the last to leave. Harmony and Jazz had turned off the music and light show by then, and Sunny looked at Harmony one more time before heading out the door.
"Whew! That was a lot of fun, wasn't it big brother?" Harmony plopped down onto her berth, venting air heavily from all the excitement. Jazz smiled.
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun, little sis." Jazz sat down on his own berth, and before either of them knew it, they were flat on their backs, recharging peacefully.
The next morning found Jazz awake on his berth, and his sister not in the room with him. He was a little panicky for a moment, but then he found a note on her berth.
'Dear Jazz,
I have gone to the rec room to get some morning energon, and I will see you there. Please don't get too worried about me. I'm not that far away.
With Love,
Harmony.'
Jazz vented air in relief, and started to make his way down to the rec room. When he got there, he saw his little sister sitting in the chair between Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, and was telling them a few jokes. From the twins' reactions, she was hilarious. Then, he saw her quickly and lightly plant a kiss on the side of Sunny's face, and he caught the surprised, yet pleased, look on his face. Well, I guess she was going to find someone eventually. I should just be glad that it's not Sideswipe. Sunstreaker's ok. I can deal with this. Jazz walked over, and joined them at the table. He saw Sunstreaker immediately try to act like nothing had happened, and then Harmony told a joke about a Decepticon who could fly, that fell off of a roof, and got his head stuck in the ground. That one was so funny, everyone at the table –Jazz included- started laughing.
"Hi, Jazz! You finally got up! Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were just listening to some of my jokes. It's been a long time since I had ANYONE laugh at my jokes!" Harmony's grin was so wide, it seemed as if her face would split right in two.
"I heard that last one, and it was pretty funny too!" Jazz reached across the table, and rubbed the top of Harmony's head. "How about you tell us some more?" As his sister told them even funnier jokes than before, Jazz noticed that Sunstreaker seemed to relax more when Harmony smiled. Maybe those two can make a good pair. We'll just have to wait and see.
