Due to popular request, I've decided to make this a multi-fic. More to come! Disclamer: i don't own Transformers: Prime
"At the end of the world
Or the last thing I see
You are never coming home, never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the things that you never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever ever"
- "The Ghost of You" by: My Chemical Romance
The bright blue energon was an ugly brownish blue as it mixed with sand and water from rain that ended hours ago. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead can only stare in grieving shock at the sight of Ratchet sprawled on the desert floor without a spark. The gaping wound was obvious.
Arcee slowly approached Ratchet as if she were afraid of waking him up. When she was close enough, she knelt down and gently inspected the wound. It was obvious that the cause was a sword, but from who?
Bumblebee made low beeping noises that could be attributed to sniffling, the beginnings of crying. Bulkhead only looked on at their dead medic and unofficial second-in-command. "Who did this?" Bulkhead asked in almost a whisper.
Arcee only continued to inspect the wound, analyzing every detail of the damage the sword caused. She knew that only two Transformers could have done this: Megatron or Optimus. Arcee shuddered to think it was the latter, but she knew she couldn't rule it out as a possibility. Optimus truly thought he was a Decepticon so it's no surprise that he would attack Ratchet, an Autobot, but did Optimus even as Orion Pax had the gut, the drive, the strength to kill another Transformer. Optimus had always shown his enemies mercy, rarely taking away life, but since Optimus and Orion are one in the same, wouldn't Orion feel the same? If that was the case, then what did Ratchet do to make Optimus feel provoked into killing Ratchet? Knowing, Ratchet, nothing. If Ratchet didn't provoke Optimus, and Optimus, even as Orion Pax, would always show mercy to enemies, then Megatron had to be the culprit. It was obviously him. Only he would senselessly kill another living thing, especially Autobot with human not too far behind. It had to be Megatron. She will murder him for it.
But Arcee began to realize that damage to Ratchet did not correspond with Megatron's sword. Megatron's sword was long and straight. Optimus's sword is long, but it curved somewhat, and before the curve, the sides of the sword were pointed. Inside Ratchet's wound appeared to two vertical lines embedded on opposite sides as if something punctured the metal and was pulled out. Megatron's sword wouldn't cause that, but a sword that has two pointed sides…
"Arcee!" Bulkhead repeated, "Who did it? Who murdered Ratchet?" Then Bumblebee beeped demandingly for Arcee to reply.
But Arcee could only contemplate at the evidence. Optimus kill Ratchet? No, he couldn't have. Even as Orion Pax, Optimus would never murder someone, but Optimus thinks he's a Decepticon. Is it possible that he would adopt the behavior of one also? No, he couldn't. If he did, then Optimus would never have become an Autobot in the first place. He would have been a Decepticon. He and Megatron may have wanted to discard the caste system and end the corruption, but that's as far as it went. Optimus chose peaceful means and reformation while Megatron sought violent means and wanted to get rid of the system all together. Optimus remained strict to his ideals. Megatron became corrupted.
But what if Megatron lied to Optimus that would not only make him think that the Decepticons where the heroes and the Autobots were evil? That could lead to Optimus killing Ratchet. No, it couldn't. Optimus always showed mercy to the evil Decepticons, offering them a second chance and always fighting honorably. Maybe Megatron spun a special, evil lie about Ratchet that would make Ratchet an exception. Could that happened? But no matter how Arcee pondered why, she knew in her spark and the evidence blatantly shows that Optimus killed Ratchet. She shuddered at the horrid, impossible revelation.
"Arcee!" Bulkhead yelled.
Finally, Arcee was ready to give an answer, but she didn't want to voice it but lying would be an insult to Ratchet's memory, and besides, her friends deserved to know the truth. No matter how wrong it was. In a shaky voice, she replied, "Op-Optimus killed Ratchet."
It was as if she dropped a bomb. Bulkhead could only react the way he knew how. "No! He wouldn't! Even as Orion and even as a Decepticon Optimus would never kill much less hurt kill Ratchet. Megatron had to have done it. He's the only other guy with a sword, well, other than Ratchet, but Ratchet's not suicidal."
"The damage doesn't correspond with Megatron's sword! Ratchet has two marks on the sides of his wound. Megatron's sword is straight, but Optimus's sword has two pointed sides!" Arcee yelled, but she didn't need to elaborate on the details for they understood.
Bulkhead's and Bumblebee's optics widened. "No," Bulkhead whispered. Bumblebee made wailing sounds. He was "crying" for Ratchet's death and Optimus's tragic mistake.
Arcee looked like she was as close to crying as a Transformer could get. "Come on. We need to get Ratchet back to base."
Bulkhead, being the only one strong enough, lifted Ratchet, careful not to further damage him, and hoisted him up. "Come on, buddy," Bulkhead said softly to his dead friend, "Let's get you back home." Bulkhead carried him bridal style.
"Jack, opened up a GroundBridge," Arcee commlinked back to base.
The Groundbridge appeared, and the three Autobots solemnly walked into the portal while energon leaked, making a trail of little puddles.
As soon as the three living Autobots plus one dead one were back at Autobot Central Command, Jack, Miko, and Raf raced over to the Autobots. Their happy faces fell dead short when they saw Ratchet with colorless optics and energon leaking from where his spark chamber was.
"Ratchet is he…" Jack began to say.
Arcee could only shake her head. It was too painful, too agonizing to find the words to put "dead" and "Ratchet" in the same sentence.
The three understood Arcee's confirmation and painful sadness overcame them. Raf noticed how torn up Bumblebee was and rushed to his side. Bumblebee knelt down and picked up Raf, drawing comfort and support from him. Ratchet's death was especially hard for Raf, too, who out of the three kids, he was the one who was remotely close to Ratchet, probably because Raf helped out Ratchet with human technology, and therefore, got to know him a bit better than Jack and Miko.
Bulkhead gently laid down Ratchet on one of the beds used for when one of them was sick or injured and Ratchet had to fix them up. Bulkhead stayed by Ratchet's body, keeping a useless vigil for him. No, not a vigil but a sign that Ratchet was indeed alive, and he would wake up any minute. Bulkhead gently rubbed Ratchet's head. It was the gentlest Bulkhead had ever been. Ratchet would be proud.
Miko ran up to Bulkhead. "It's gonna be okay, Bulk." She had been crying. "How did Ratchet die?"
Bulkhead didn't want to reveal the ironic, tragic truth so he only said, "A sword extinguished his spark."
"But who did it?" Miko asked.
Bulkhead didn't want to tell her the truth, but he didn't want to lie to her either. Miko had enough bad habits for her to pick up another one, and Bulkhead loved her enough that he couldn't lie to Miko.
Fortunately, Arcee saved Bulkhead. She was sitting down while Jack rubber her back in a comforting way when she spoke up, "Optimus killed Ratchet."
It stunned the three humans. "Are you sure, Arcee?" Jack asked.
Arcee nodded her head. "The damage to Ratchet matched the damage Optimus's sword could cause. It definitely wasn't Megatron's doing. Now the only question is why?"
"But Optimus would never kill Ratchet!" Miko blurted out.
"Yeah, aren't they like best friends or something after Megatron turned evil?" Raf said, recalling a story Ratchet told him once about how he and Optimus met.
"Well, who knows what Megatron is feeding Optimus's processors to make optimus want to kill Ratchet. He already thinks he's a Decepticon," Arcee stated.
Miko climbed on the bed and got a good look at Ratchet's wound. Sure enough she could see two embedded lines opposite of each other inside the hole which she assumed was the correspondence Arcee was talking about. To her horror, she could see the bed through the wound so Optimus used his sword and put a whole in Ratchet. The idea of Optimus doing that to one of his closest, most trusted comrades was horrifying and unthinkable! It made Miko feel nauseated. Bulkhead noticed this and picked her up and placed her on his shoulder where Miko through her arms around Bulkhead's neck, giving him the tightest hug she could muster. Bulkhead gently cupped her body and returned the hug.
With Optimus gone, it was the Autobots' darkest hour. With Ratchet dead and Optimus gone, their darkes hour had just gotten darker. Losing Optimus was hard enough. They knew that somehow, someway, they can get him back and restore his memories, but with Ratchet dead just made it worse. Actually, it was worse than losing Optimus because Optimus can and will come back. Ratchet, on the other hand, is never coming back. They had lost a valuable and beloved friend and comrade.
None of the Autobots or humans knew what to do or process the unthinkable act that Optimus killed Ratchet. All they knew and did was mourn for their lost friend and lean on each other for support.