Purity

oOo

Sunstorm groaned as he came online in a brig cell. Across from him he caught a glimpse of red and white, golden eyes rebooting and looking slowly up to the figure's face. Ratchet would have tried to reach through the bars, but didn't dare as he watched Sunstorm online. The younger mech slowly propped himself on his elbows, looking up at Ratchet with wide eyes.

Nobody else seemed to see the innocence in those golden panels.

"Angel?" Sunstorm asked, standing up and slowly approaching Ratchet. The medic was silent. Sunstorm would definitely recognize his voice and he didn't want the golden mech to realize this just yet. As far as Sunstorm was concerned, Ratchet had kept him captive for the past months. Ratchet was the enemy now.

Reaching into his subspace, Ratchet pulled out an energon cube and pushed it through the bars onto the floor before the seeker before turning and walking out of the brig.

oOo

Sunstorm greedily ate the cube before curling up in a corner, reaching up to feel the collar around his neck.

And stopped.

The collar was gone. No constricting metal and wiring around his throat. Nothing to contain his radiation. Then Sunstorm realized that nothing had melted. His Angel hadn't even flinched. There was no pain. Sunstorm felt his chassis and jumped at the strength of the pulsing of his spark. Had he… Been excited? In the presence of his Angel? It definitely hadn't been fear or anger… Sunstorm looked towards the brig, shuddering as he let his hand drop from his chest and into his lap.

oOo

Ratchet shuddered as he sat in his office, thinking of those golden optics staring at him. His spark pulsed faster at the thought of holding that body against his, protecting him and stroking that perfect, innocent face. This was not what he should be thinking of!

What on earth was wrong with him?!

Ratchet growled when he felt a flutter in his spark and frowned. That wasn't a good thing… Standing up, Ratchet went into the med-bay where First Aid and Swoop were both working on cleaning old tools, checking inventory and regular chores.

"Morning Ratchet." First Aid, ever chipper, smiled behind his mask and Ratchet nodded, going over to the spark scanner. "What's up?"

"I'm feeling unusual feelings in my spark and am trying to figure out what they are." The doctor explained concisely.

"Well, from the reports, you said that Sunstorm had imprinted with you, like a sparkling?" First Aid looked at the scans, frowning behind his mask at the readings. It seemed like there was another piece of a spark with Ratchet's, sharing the warmth.

"Yes."

"Wouldn't that affect it?"

"Not the way that this is affecting me…" Ratchet read the scan and frowned even more. There was no way… Running the scan again, Ratchet looked at the results. Then again. Then again. By the eighth time Ratchet sat down on a medical berth and scowled at the machine maliciously.

Sparklings bonding with their creators wasn't unusual, but it wasn't something that often happened ever since the war had started. When a sparkling imprinted with a creator or creator-figure, they would instinctively want to be as close as they could to their creator. Sometimes, unconsciously, the sparkling would begin to form a bond with their parent that resembled more of a sparkmate bond than a creator-sparkling bond.

Ratchet slumped and rubbed his optics.

Why him?