A/N: So yes, I did read, and kind of fall in reluctant love with, Borath's story, "Quits," in which... well, yeah. And in spite of all my protestations, when I'm in a movieverse mentality, there is a part of me that can't help but believe in Prime/Hide. So this, I guess, is what would happen if Ironhide was offed in the Borath-verse. (In her world, if one bondmate dies, the other follows after.)
Movieverse, Borath-style: Bond-Broken
Sure, Prime had purchased an uneasy peace, rendering the black mech's storied cannons technically unnecessary. But Ironhide had been more than the punch behind the Autobots' cause. He had been the harbor in whose safety Prime had anchored his ravaged spark against the tugging tides of memory – memories of the bitter price that he had paid for bitter peace.
Now, as he felt his bondmate's spark flare up white-hot and die, his moorings tore loose and Prime's soul was cast into a hurricane of night. Adrift, Optimus cried out in the anguish of a sundered spark. His soul in tatters, he abandoned his ill-treated body, and set out amid the fog between the worlds, calling mutely for his lifemate like a body calls out to its severed limb.
((It's Borath's fault that I cried myself to sleep after watching DotM for the first time.))
((Like I said, I can't deal with DotM now. But if I ever do, I'll put another chapter in here. So I'll list this thing as incomplete for now.))