TITLE: Walking Alone

CHALLENGE SET: #3

CHALLENGE: Insomnia

RATING: PG

WORD COUNT: 665

PAIRINGS: hinted Pura/BlueWing

SUMMARY: Its not always easy being a leader.

Don't wanna close my eyes. I don't wanna fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you babe, and I don't wanna miss a thing. – Aerosmith.

Pura walked through the hallways of the Underground like a restless ghost, her light footsteps barely making a sound on the metal flooring. A good thing too, since most of her teammates were now deep in recharge, and waking them at some unholy hour could prove catastrophic. Hence the reason she tried to make as little noise as possible.

She held a datapad in her hand, that was full of information from the others regarding their current situation, location, scouting reports, reports on warfare, neighboring cities, defense strategies, etc, etc – most of them things she would rather not read about, certainly not when she was trying to get to sleep. Only she didn't have a choice in the matter. She had to do it if she was supposed to keep them all from getting killed. Waking hours were out of the question. If they were not out fighting and killing Shockwave's drones, and various and sundry Decepticons that passed through the city above them, then they were usually involved in other duties, which left little time for report reading. So she did it when the others were asleep and she was alone.

What did she know about being a leader anyway? Aside from the fact that it gave her more stress than she knew what to do with. This was not the first time she'd walked the hallways of the base, unable to sleep because she was too afraid of what tomorrow would bring. She didn't want to lose any of them, yet she knew that if one of them died, it would be her fault. They were counting on her for their battle tactics after all.

Lives. All their lives depended on how well she could analyze a situation and come up with a suitable plan to counter the enemy… and she wondered why she couldn't get to sleep sometimes. She let out a weary sigh and turned a corner, starting to walk down the hallway that housed the private quarters. Much of the base was still 'new', thus the reason why some quarters still didn't have any doors. In fact, the only one that did was hers and she suspected that it was only because she was a femme – and their commander – and therefore needed some kind of privacy, that the others labored to ensure her room had a door before any of the others.

She walked quickly and quietly down the hall, glancing briefly into the rooms to make sure that the mech within each was recharging peacefully and comfortably. She paused a little longer outside one room, noting the large, winged form that lay on the berth within and through the darkness she could just make out some of the blue armor. There was a moment of hesitation where she almost wanted to go inside and talk to him.

Of all the mechs in her team, he was the one she always went to when unsure about things. He was different from the others somehow – older, more mature, more experienced than the others, yet also very soft-spoken and polite. Pura knew she would have gone crazy if not for his help. The moment passed and she shook her head and continued walking. She had no right to disturb others just because she couldn't recharge herself. Putting the welfare of subordinates before your own – wasn't that one of the things a leader did?

She reached the control room and checked the screens to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary on them, before sinking into one of the chairs and picking up the datapad again. She had only a few more megacycles left to finish it before the others started to wake up.

END