Awake and Alive
A loud noise woke Arcee up. It was the noise that the other Bots were doing when something would happen, good or bad. She did hope it was a good thing. Then, her door suddenly opened and Bumblebee marched in, a big smile on his faceplates. Arcee knew he was alive… so she smiled back at the yellow mech. Her spark bounced up from joy, but she didn't want to show her happiness. She wasn't happy only because he was still alive; it was because her wish came true too.
"Morning, Bee. So… what brings you to my chambers this early in the morning?" she asked and sat up at the berth, crossing her legs and leaning onto her servos. The yellow muscle car's smile intensified.
"Starscream survived, Cee! He actually did!" he smiled and said in a childish voice: "Come, everybody is gathering in front of the med bay!"
He wanted to leave, but Arcee's voice made him stop.
"But… it's just Starscream… Why is everybody gathering up?"
"'Cause it is a miracle!" he happily stated and rushed out of the room.
"Alright, a miracle", she said and chuckled. She was looking at the door that shut close as she didn't really want to see him, though it was her wish he'd stay with them. As soon as she started thinking about it, she realized that it would be impolite not to show up. Then, she stood up and walked over to the door, servos crossed at her chest. It opened, but she still didn't leave as she wanted to be appropriately late. She would always do that on purpose when there was a meeting she wanted to skip, but couldn't. Arcee didn't really want to see the seeker's opened optics again, but she did want to see his reaction when she tells him that he's alive because of her wish… it was no coincidence that he had survived. He probably wouldn't believe her or he would just stare at her. As much as she couldn't forget about the things he had done, as much as she wanted to smack him onto the floor, there was something in him that didn't let her. She could have scrapped him dozens of times… but why couldn't she? He could terminate Cliffjumper, but she couldn't get revenge for that, even though her hate and her fury for him were rising. Was she… weak? Was that the reason why he wasn't dead yet…?
She quickly shook her head to get the thoughts out of her head… She didn't want to choke him as soon she sees him.
Then she started to walk towards the med bay, slowly and carelessly like nothing happened at all. She was just hoping it wasn't looking suspicious.
…Later…
She saw the whole team except the medics surrounding the door of the medical bay. Bulkhead and Wheeljack didn't seem to care at all, but Arcee remembered their face's expressions the last day. She knew they did care… Or the care for him disappeared as soon they found out he's OK. Bumblebee and Smokescreen were smiling, but Bumblebee's smile way bigger than Smokescreen's. Ultra Magnus looked at her with calm optics; he knew what she was going through.
"Arcee… You're late… Again", Ultra Magnus stated, but smiled. He knew that she was late on purpose. The femme's behavior was easily read.
Then, Ratchet opened the door and had a slight smile on his faceplates, loudly announcing: "We've done everything we could..."
"And it went fabulously well!" Knock Out's voice came out of the medical bay and Arcee, Smokescreen and Bumblebee smiled.
Ratchet grumpily turned around and narrowed his optics: "Knock Out! I was supposed to tell them about his state!" he complained.
"Oh, well. You can still repeat it", he said back and silently chuckled.
Ratchet mumbled something and slightly shook his head, turning towards them again.
"What is that? I can't hear you repeating it", Knock Out kept on mocking the old medic, and Ratchet frowned.
"Imagine listening to this for cycles and cycles", he sighed and Ultra Magnus smiled to get Ratchet into a better mood. He smiled back and moved his hand to show them they were allowed to enter the bay. So they did; Bumblebee was first, Bulkhead second, Wheeljack third… and then the others. Arcee went into the room after anyone else… She still wasn't sure she wouldn't smack him as soon she gets the chance to.
As she entered, she saw him looking at them with half-opened optics. He was slightly smiling and in a comfortable position. His scars were gone, his scratches were gone and his wings were at the right position again. He was lying and had his hands compressed on his chest as he was looking at them with a look Arcee never saw on him. His optics were slightly glowing, but they were shining anyways, not because of the glow, because of the feelings that were bursting out of them. They weren't looking aggressive and evil at all, they weren't even looking the way they had to look if it was really him. Then, he suddenly looked at her and their optics met. His smile got a little bit bigger, but it was hardly noticeable. The red optics were showing his nicer side, his calmness which he wasn't showing very often. In them was gratitude, tenderness and gentleness… and all her fury suddenly disappeared.
She suddenly smiled back, and as she did, his smile disappeared and he looked at Knock Out who was still working on his arm. Little sparks were bursting as he was making swift moves to repair them. Then, Knock Out's optics met his and the red Aston Martin smiled.
"Hey, Starscream… I haven't seen you so silent in ages", he silently said and Starscream looked away from him too for a second, but then he returned his sight at the red medic and his optics slightly glowed again, his optic ridges lowering. Knock Out smiled even wider as it was surprising for Starscream to be calm like that. It just… didn't suit his personality.
Bulkhead looked weirdly at him, but despite Starscream noticed it, he didn't respond to that.
"Okay, Scream… Just another vaccination and you're good to go… well, not to go, but to stay alive", he said with humor and took an vaccine out. He looked at it from both sides and then looked at the silver seeker who was looking at the vaccine like it was Megatron who wanted to beat him up.
"What is it, Starscream? Afraid of it?" he lifted it up to show it to the seeker who couldn't stop looking at it.
"They hurt", he silently said and looked at the ground, away from him.
Knock Out silently chuckled and vaccinated him. The seeker closed his optics tightly, showed his dental plates and clenched his fists in pain which the little thing was causing. He soon began to cut the berth with his claws, and Knock Out pulled out the vaccination which was in his upper arm. The silver mech sighed as the pain disappeared.
"Done", Knock Out said, patted his shoulder plate and backed off.
Then, Starscream's sight went back at the team, viewing each one of them while tilting his head. This caused them to smile once again. It was strange to see a former Decepticon commander like that.
"What is it, Starscream?" Ultra Magnus asked and stepped a step forward to point himself out.
Starscream firstly hesitated to say something and simply looked at the ground, but he soon raised his head to look into Ultra Magnus' optics, Starscream's bright red optics getting cuter: "I cannot understand why you chose to rescue my pathetic life… I did such damage to the Autobots and you," he looked at Knock Out and he looked back at him with a slightly angry expression, but he left it go, "why then save me? I didn't really deserve it… All I did before was wrong..."
"Soldier… you may have been an important part of the Decepticon cause… But the fact that you are a living being didn't change… And everybody deserves a new chance, a start over…"
"But… Arcee… She wasn't really", Starscream started and she looked away from him as soon his sight got to her. She wanted to tell him that her will was the only reason why he was still alive, but somehow, she couldn't. She didn't want to tell him. It would just raise the awkwardness level in the room.
"At first," Ultra Magnus said and the silver mech's sight went back to him, "but as soon as she saw that you were helpless, that you were defenseless, weak, she couldn't help but to help you. In fact, if she wouldn't have chosen to rescue you, you would be dead."
Starscream looked at the floor: "I… I understand…"
"Anyways, Starscream," Knock Out said and Starscream looked at him, "we're all glad you're not dead. I mean, not that I was scared when you were dying from the energon leak which was getting only worse…"
"Dying?!" he asked, shocked to hear something like that.
"Ugh… Yes… We practically declared you dead", Ratchet said and smiled, and Starscream leaned back at the berth and clenched the edges of it.
"How come that I'm still alive then," Starscream wasn't calming down, "would that mean… I'm already dead?!"
He put his weight at his servos again as he was panicking and exclaimed: "Did the blackest night call me home?! Did the silver sun call my name?!"
Arcee and Bulkhead looked at each other, both of them having a questioning look at their face.
"No, wait," he stroked his chin with his index claw, and then looked at Knock Out and smiled, "you're here."
Knock Out opened his mouth as Starscream hurt him with those words.
"Oh… Now I remember why I knocked him out back then… He's rude", Knock Out rolled his optics and went next to Ratchet.
Then, Arcee rolled her optics and Starscream looked at her, still smiling and having half-opened optics: "Arcee…"
The blue femme immediately looked at him and put her servos at her hips. His smile was slowly disappearing and she tilted her head.
"I guess… I have to… thank you…"
She raised her optic ridges as she was surprised to hear such words from him: "You know… I only saved you because it was the right thing to do… Not because I wanted you to stay online."
He smiled and shut his optics to go into recharge. Everybody looked at him as they were quite surprised he actually fell asleep so soon. They expected him to be scared for some time, and not to feel that save around them so he could sleep.
Ratchet suddenly smiled and guided the team out of the room to let him alone. As soon as the door closed, the 'Bots started to chat about lots of stuff, mostly about his weird attitude.
"Did you see his optics? They were looking at me with gratitude… It was way too weird", Arcee stated and they looked at her.
"Well… He fell asleep right at the same berth where he was dying and didn't whine while I was vaccinating him… which was weird too, wasn't it?" Knock Out said, but then added: "Oh… but his rudeness didn't disappear…"
"You think he could change?" Smokescreen diverted from the conversation and looked at Ultra Magnus who looked at him in the same time.
"I don't know… Maybe we could explain the meaning of life to him. Maybe there is some hope… and some good in him", Ultra Magnus stated and Arcee looked at him. It clearly wasn't going the way it was supposed to go. She knew she did want to be the one to teach him something, but she changed her mind while sleeping… She knew it wasn't a good idea.
"Ultra Magnus… sir", she silently stated and he looked at her.
"What is it, soldier?"
"I think we shouldn't go that far… I thought we'd save his pathetic life and then let him fly away, just like we've agreed to…"
"Good point, but you overlooked the fact that he is clearly trying to be a part of us."
"But he's not", she loudly stated and as soon she saw his surprised expression on his faceplate, she had to correct herself, "yet."
…In the meantime…
Starscream opened his optics again and listened if there was something he could hear from the outside, but there was nothing. It was good for him, as he was assured that they couldn't hear him. He carefully put his weight at his weak, trembling servos. It was painful, but he felt the urgency he had to do something. Before that, he heavily sighed and looked at his claws. They were long and sharp as they were always, and he was sure the Autobots didn't do anything to him which could change him completely. He smirked and tried to stand up, but as soon as he stepped away from the berth, he yelled and fell at the floor, face first. After a few seconds, he raised his head to look around to find out where the computer was located. As soon as he saw it, he crawled towards it. As he reached it, he put his claws at the upper part and pulled himself up, gasping a little. His legs were trembling and he was dizzy, but his desire to know something was way bigger than the desire to stay at the berth, waiting for someone to come. He narrowed his optics as the light from the screen was hurting them, but he wanted to know. He quickly managed to hack into Ratchet's system to see his own data. He was typing extremely quickly as the data was rising upwards. His optics were, however, locked at one spot.
"Now, now… Where are you?" he was wondering as Ratchet had tons of data and he couldn't find this new data, he even found his previous data before this one. When he finally found it, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know it at the first place… but he opened it anyways. As soon as he read the first few lines, his optics widened.
"Energon level dropping to dangerously low level… Energon leaks can't be stopped… Cables cracking from the pressure," he gulped, "energon pressure too low, spark beats skipping and getting too slow…"
He scrolled down to see the sparks' movements which didn't seem logical in any way… At least the fact that he was still alive didn't seem logical.
As he wanted to power it off, the door opened and Arcee came in. Starscream's optics widened and he neared his legs to each other as he would usually do when he knew he was in some kind of danger.
"I heard your yelp, is everything…What are you doing?" she asked when she realized the screen was full of some information, her optics slowly narrowing as she saw that he was using his tactic to look smaller and weaker like he would do when there was someone who could hurt him. The seeker half-opened his mouth and looked left and right before meeting her optics yet again.
"N-Nothing," he squealed and stepped a step back, making her narrow her optics even more.
"Starscream…! I swear, if you were messing with something again…!" she exclaimed and started approaching him so he braced himself by lifting up his trembling servos.
"D-Don't hurt me! Please", he whined and she looked at his data which was displayed on the screen. She knew he just wanted to know what happened to him while he was unconscious. Then she looked over to him and saw that he was afraid.
"Starscream… are you… afraid of me?" she asked, put a servo at her hip and smiled.
He slowly removed his servos and put them down again, his optics locked at hers, watching every movement she made: "Uh… no… why would I?"
"Maybe because I could still get revenge on you because of that thing with Cliff…? You should be afraid of me", she stated and he widened his optics, raising his optic ridges.
"What?! You wouldn't terminate me so defenseless, would you?" he managed to look cute again and sat at his berth. She smiled even wider and cutely narrowed her optics. Then, she slightly shook her head and started to walk towards the exit of the room.
"Arcee, wait!" he suddenly called and she turned around, crossing her servos.
"What?"
"Do you think…? I could perhaps get a chance to… become one of you…?" he asked as he very well knew that Arcee was the only one who would never trust him just like that. He knew how much she hated him.
She widened her optics and was sure that this wasn't the way she wished it to be… but she couldn't ignore his question as she felt his eyes on her, burning with the desire to know. She sighed and turned around, walking towards the door. He was still just sitting and waiting for a respond from her, hoping it would be positive. He knew it would be a long time till they could get along, but he simply had to know if he had the chance or not. As she reached the door and it opened, she looked back to see him looking at her, his optics cutely locked at her while glowing, optic ridges lowering.
"I know I've made mistakes in my life… monumental ones. But I've changed. I've got clear understanding of who I am… of who I was always meant to be… one of you." he stated and smiled. She couldn't really deny the fact that it would be better to have him with them than against them, so she nodded her head. Her face was serious and there were no signs of happiness on it. She would have said no if she'd be the leader, but the task to decide whether he'd stay or not wasn't given to her, but to Ultra Magnus. As she knew he wanted to be just like Optimus Prime, she had to respect his wish to let the seeker join them.
"Yes. I guess you have," she turned around, "as long as you don't mess up."
As the door closed, he smirked and laid at the berth, closing his tired optics.
