Hi everybody! Yay! Half day off work! It's almost like a half day of school, which I haven't done in nearly 9 years… I really need to stop making myself feel so old all the time. XD Well anyway back to Ratchet and Silvia. Thought I would try a little something new at the beginning and anyone who maybe holding out for more fluff and smut, keep reading to the end. It's mostly just a quickie, but you might need a tissue or two. (Yep… Still talking about you Cao.)
No special shout outs here, but don't be afraid to comment and ask questions. I love to hear from my readers!
WARNINGS: If you are not into yaoi, slash, or mech preg, please do not read then try giving me a hard time in the comments and reviews. You were warned on the opening tab, and you are being warned just now. So, if I'm not your cup of tea that's perfectly alright, but please don't be shitty about it.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any stocks, trades, or licensing from the Transformers franchise. All rights are reserved for HASBRO entertainment.
MERCY
Chapter 23.2
Autobots: Ratchet and Optimus; Silvia
"Silvia-aaaa!" Miko whined as she spun in a random wheelie chair with her head looking straight up at the ceiling and her feet dangling through the air. It was a very lazy Saturday afternoon and almost everyone had left for patrol or hanging out somewhere else. Bulkhead went on patrol before Miko, miraculously, finished her homework. So now she had no choice but to wait for him in the main area. Ratchet was working on the data Bulkhead had transcribed, and Silvia was in the middle of reading a book she's been trying to finish for a month. But it looked like she was going to have to put it off for a while longer as her ward continued to pester her. "I'm boooooored… I have nothing to doooooo…"
"Talk to Ratchet." The ebony haired woman pretended to continue reading, even though she had lost her place. "I'm sure he has a mop lying around here somewhere, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you cleaned up around his workstation a little bit."
"Yes he would." Ratchet announced without even looking up from his console. "I need my space and I'm more then capable of cleaning up after myself. Why don't you just go swimming? I can ground bridge you to the school if you like."
"I don't want to miss Bulkhead when he gets back." Miko stopped spinning and looked back at Silvia. She got up from her seat and went over to the couch her guardian was sitting in. With big wide brown eyes the little girl tried to entice Silvia for just a little more attention, and though the Captain didn't want to admit it aloud, it worked.
"Okay…" She sighed and set her book aside to face the puppy dog eyes beside her. "How about a story then?"
"I said I was bored, not eight years old." Miko pouted with her arms crossed.
"Could've fooled me…" The medic coughed and turned his helm the other way.
Silvia continued to smile and chuckled at the way Miko glared at Ratchet. "You said you were bored. So take it or leave it."
"Alright fine." The girl rolled her eyes. "Pick something good. I like mild romance with a side of angst."
"I'll tell you one of my favorites then." Silvia made herself comfortable while repositioning herself on the couch. "Have you ever heard about the Greek warrior Orion?"
"Orion?" Ratchet literally dropped what he was doing and walked over to the other side of the landing. "Earth has a hero named Orion too?"
"Are you implying there is a hero from Cybertron named Orion?" The captain asked rather curiously, and Miko expressed herself the same way.
"I would actually like to hear that story." She tilted her head, and Silvia didn't argue. She was just as interested, but Ratchet had his own curiosities to fill.
"I'll bring it up again." He promised. "You tell your story first."
"Really?" Silvia's green eyes furled in amusement. "Why the sudden interest in human mythology?"
"Are you going to tell the story or not?" The white mech huffed.
"Alright," she surrendered, "I was just giving you a hard time Ratchet." She then turned her attention back to Miko and began her tale. "There once was a very brave and strong warrior named Orion. He was the champion of his time and no man nor beast could defeat him. He did however have a very strong rival. Scorpio the scorpion. His venom is said to be so potent that if he ever decided to let it spill upon the ground, he would poison the entire world. Orion was preparing to battle Scorpio one day, and everyone tried to convince him not to go. He would be killed! No one was more distraught then his mother, and the only thing she could think to do was pray."
"Pray?" Miko rolled her eyes. "Is there going to be any action in this story?"
"I'm getting there. Be patient." Silvia shook her head, but still smiled. "Now, during ancient times the Greeks' had a lot of deities to ask for help, so you had to be sure to pick the right one for the right occasion. But Orion's mother didn't have a lot time for soul searching so she went to the nearest temple she could find. Which happened to be the temple of Artemis, the virgin Goddess of the hunt and the moon. Orion's mother… Which I just realized it is a little silly to keep calling Orion's mother, Orion's mother."
Finally finding an interest in the story Miko stated an input that even made Ratchet smile. "Just call her Aiko… It's my mom's name."
"Awww…" Silvia and Miko both snapped their heads in Ratchet's direction. They stared at him in wonder of his extremely rare show of positive emotion towards them. The medic lightly blushed from the sudden attention. "What? I'm not allowed to be sentimental every now and then?"
"Define 'allowed'." The captain reached over to pat Miko absent mindedly on her head when the tiny girl tried to swallow a laugh.
"Just tell the story." The bot gently pointed at her almost playfully, and Silvia took it in good humor.
"Alright," she giggled, "don't rush me. Now, where was I? Oh! Right, 'Aiko' made the journey to the Moon Goddess's temple in the middle of the Greek wilderness. She brought a deer pelt, a boars tusk, and a bundle of fish as an offering to Artemis. Which wasn't easy for a little old lady. In order for the offering to really mean anything she had to get all of those things herself."
"Tough cookie." Miko commented and was rewarded with a soft boop on her nose.
"You don't know how tough. Back then you didn't get older if you didn't know how to care for yourself and others, and fortunately for Aiko her offerings and her pleas were heard. Artemis took a very strong interest in this prayer, but she pretty much did the opposite of what Aiko was actually looking for. She went to Orion and offered to help him on his mission, not to stop it. Their adventure started out simple. Artemis bestowed upon him a mystical lion pelt that spoke to him and gave him directions, the sword of Perseus that slayed the gorgon monster Medusa, and a silver shield forged by Hephaestus the blacksmith to the gods. The best was gold and she wanted to get it for him, but apparently Hephaestus was still coming off his rag."
Miko laughed, but clearly the colorful story telling went over Ratchet's helm. "What?"
"I'll explain later." Silvia replied before she went back to the story. "Anyway, Orion took his new equipment and set out to find Scorpio's den. Nobody really knew where it was, even the Gods had trouble finding him. But once Orion found his way there… Well, let's just say that's where shit hit the fan. A horrific battle ensued, and Orion fought the giant scorpion for three days and three nights."
"When did he sleep?" Miko asked.
"I too have a hard time believing that." Ratchet chimed in. "Even Autobots need to get at least four hours of recharge every two days."
The ebony haired woman's first thought was, 'Only two days?'. But instead she shook her finger at the bot. "It's a fable guys, try to keep up. Like I said, they fought three days and three nights and it was starting to take its toll on Orion's body. Up to this point, Artemis wasn't allowed to get any more involved then she already did. Believe it or not Gods and Goddesses had quite a few rules when it came to assisting humans in their trials. She could provide what 'he' needed to fight the monster himself, but if she didn't have the permission from her father Zeus to personally interfere, she couldn't do anything else to help him any further."
"What?" Miko's eyes widened in concern. Despite her original plan to have fun by poking more holes in the story, the tiny girl was actually feeling immersed in the way Silvia was telling it. "What does that mean? Did Artemis just let Orion die?"
"Hey, I said keep up, not to get ahead of me." Silvia was glad to see a healthy reaction from her curious young ward. "Artemis is still watching the fight and she knows that Orion isn't going to last much longer. She watched as his shield was tossed to the side. She watched as his sword was smacked from his hands with so much force, it became lodged into a boulder… But he still fought. Artemis admired him for his bravery so much that she decided right there on the spot that she would disobey her father's wishes, and she appeared before the hero just in time. Before Scorpio could deliver his final blow, the Moon Goddess lifted her bow and with her gold and silver arrows, she shot Scorpio in the center of his face."
"Yes!" Again both Silvia and Miko turned their heads to look at Ratchet. He quickly recovered himself and coughed into his servo. "Then what happened?"
"… Right…" The captain shrugged. "After Artemis killed Scorpio, Orion knelt before the Goddess and announced his gratitude and his life in service to her. But Artemis admired Orion for the person he was and told him, she wished for him to be his companion, not her servant. Thus began a powerful friendship that would last a lifetime… Or at least for Orion's lifetime."
"Hey, I asked for a mild romance," Miko pouted a little more, "not a brief friendship. What kind of ending was that?"
Silvia slid closer to Miko and half hugged her playfully. "That wasn't an ending." She answered. "It was a beginning. This wasn't just a story about Artemis and Orion. This is also a story about Orion and Apollo, Artemis's twin brother."
"Is Apollo anything like Artemis?" Ratchet wondered and was a little taken aback when Silvia didn't hesitate with her answer.
"Nope. He was a little asshole. Aside from looking almost exactly like each other, the two of them were exact opposites. Apollo was the sun, and Artemis was the moon. Apollo liked to party, and Artemis liked to hunt. Apollo tried to screw anything that could fog a mirror, and Artemis was devoted to be a virgin Goddess." Miko snickered into hand and blushed a little bit. She really did appreciate how Silvia didn't treat her entirely like a little kid and didn't tip toe around her. But Miko was still a kid and she had her moments of understandable immaturity. "Are you good?" Silvia gave the tiny girl another warm grin and waited for Miko to nod. "Okay then. So for a while everything was going good for Orion and Artemis, but one day the Goddess invited her friend out on a hunt, and as a treat she took Orion to of the sacred groves. They played with the hunting dogs and chased boar through the trees for a while, but when they stopped to rest Orion thought he heard something. Someone was playing music, and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He stood from beneath the large willow tree he and Artemis had chosen to nap beneath, and he followed the music. Orion followed the edge of the river from the grove to a large meadow of wildflowers. He stepped over the meadow as if he was compelled through a trance, and the longer he walked the louder the beautiful music became."
Now it was Ratchet's turn to blush. He wasn't sure why he was becoming so flustered by such a simple human fable, but there was something about the way Silvia told the story that made the old model's under carriage begin to warm. So he did his best not to sound too embarrassed when he asked, "What happened next?"
"Orion reached the end of the meadow to a dark thicket. He pushed his way through thorn filled brush and long overgrown vines until he came upon a dark clearing. The trees were so tall over the clearing their leaves blocked out almost all of the light of the day, but there was a small glimmer of luminescence emanating from a pond in the center of the clearing. It was a bright golden glow and Orion was able to follow the small light to the same spot as the music… Finally, after a journey that felt like an eternity, Orion found the source of the music. He knew right away that he had stumbled upon the Sun God Apollo, and though it was a sin to gaze upon a God without his permission, Orion could not look away. Apollo played his lyre like a dream, and he was so beautiful the mortal currently watching him thought he would die if he even blinked. Unbeknownst to Orion, however, Apollo knew he was standing there. He had known about the warrior and his friendship with his sister for a long time, and the first time he set his eyes upon the gorgeous man the God fell deeply in love with him. He knew… Orion had to be his."
"Woooowwww…" Miko's voice wavered as her imagination took over her reality, and Ratchet was apparently not far behind her.
"Wow…" He breathed, and to his delight, Bulkhead had arrived back from his patrol early. He quickly pushed in Optimus's current coordinates and opened the ground bridge. "Bulkhead, you're in charge for the time being! I need to speak to Orio—! I-I mean Optimus!"
Before anyone had time to say or ask anything, he quickly ran and then transformed into the ground bridge. Ratchet sped off, ignoring everyone's confused glares and found Optimus almost instantly. It took him some convincing on his part to encourage his lover to follow him to a secluded area, but in the end even the Prime couldn't resist the temptation to be with Ratchet. The first isolated place they found that they were sure no humans were near, the two bots transformed and collided with each other in pure passion. As Ratchet heaved and cried out in ecstasy from the heated touch of his bond mate, he made a quick mental note that he would have to ask Silvia to finish that story later.
"So strange…" Ratchet thought as he stayed deaf to the world. He held the open wound over his chest; feebly attempting to keep any good energon he had left from flowing between his digits. He could barely keep his optics open and his intakes began to slow and become shallow. "So strange… I'm lying on my back dying… And for some reason my last thought in this universe… Is how much I want to hear the end to a silly human myth… I would laugh if I had any feeling in my… Well, anything right now…"
"Ratchet!" He finally heard Silvia calling out to him. He wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, but it must've been for a while. How he desperately wanted to tell her he was sorry. He was so sorry for everything he had said to her while he was still under the influence of the Synth-N. Ratchet still didn't understand why she was so upset, but he never meant to hurt her so badly she cried. He wanted to reach out for her, call to her, if he could even manage a whisper, he would grant it to her, but he was too far gone. Slowly his optics dimmed, and though he knew Silvia was right by his side, her voice was fading further and further away. "No! No Ratchet! Please! Please stay awake! Open your eyes and stay with me!"
His optics were closed? The weak mech hardly noticed, but he did his best to cling to his consciousness for Silvia. If not for himself then for her. She was so distraught it was hard to listen to, but he wanted to at least try to let her know that he heard her.
"No…" Silvia was starting to whimper, and Ratchet could somehow feel her hands slide down the side of his helm. It was almost like she was fading the same way Ratchet was. "No… Not this again… Don't leave me… Not like Joshua… Please…"
Joshua? Who is Joshua? Perhaps the question was never going to be answered. Ratchet could no longer hear her voice or feel her presence. He was finally out cold, and there was nothing that could revive him. Not now at least.
For the next two days, Ratchet was in and out of consciousness. The first time he realized he was back at the base he was in the middle of the main area. Hooked up to a multitude of machinery and energon lines, and when he tried to sit up, he was gently pushed back down. Ratchet was beyond ecstatic that Optimus was the first Bot he saw when he opened his optics. Part of the medic was hoping his mate would still be cross with him. He felt he deserved it after all, but all the Prime did was smile and tell him how happy he was that Ratchet was safe. In turn, the white mech promised that all testing on the Synth-N would be refrained to machines, not Autobots. That was the last thing he remembered saying before he fell into recharge again, but the next time he came to he was in Optimus's berth. His chest was starting to heal over thanks to his internal nanites and it was slow going, but he was rehabilitated enough to rest without a large energon tube latched to his chassis.
Ratchet sighed as he felt very comfortable in the position he was in. He usually didn't like recharging on his back, mostly because of his hub. He didn't mind it so much as long as it was removed before hand, and for a moment it felt like it was still there since he was slightly propped upward. Until he felt something on his back shift slightly in place. He opened his optics and they fluttered low as he turned his helm to his side. Optimus was recharging next to him, and he was even cradled in the Prime's arms. Ratchet's mind and frame was still beaten and broken, but his spark lit up like a youngling. He was so excited he reached up to stroke his lover's faceplate, but he moved to quickly.
"Oh!" He didn't mean to wake Optimus, but he ended up grunting louder then he intended to. The Prime was alerted to Ratchet's distress right away and he carefully pushed himself up on his side.
"Ratchet?" He glanced at him with a worrisome look in his optics. "Are you in pain? Do you need me to give you something?"
"N-No…" Ratchet muttered through his shaking vocalizer. Slowly he lifted his servo above his chassis and Optimus grasped it in return, understanding that it was what the medic was searching for. "Optimus… Optimus…"
"Yes Ratchet? What do you need? What do you want?"
"… You…" The signal was quiet and weak, but Optimus could hear it. He was so happy he could hear Ratchet call for him through their bond, he couldn't hold back his urge to kiss the white mech's fore-helm. "You… I… Optimus… Th-The answer will… Always be you…"
"I hear you…" The taller mech whispered with a warm grin and lovingly laced his digits with Ratchet's. "I hear you… And I love you…"
"Optimus…" Ratchet cried with a single tear sliding down his faceplate. Before any more could escape the red and blue mech above him gently kissed them away. "I… Want you… I want you now…"
"I don't want to aggravate your injuries." Optimus lulled the side of his helm next to his lover's audio receptor. "We can wait until you feel better."
"I will feel worse if we don't…" The white mech cried even more. "I just… Need to know… You still want me…" There was no stopping Ratchet's sobbing now. It hurt his frame, but he was to upset to stop and he tightened his hold on Optimus's servo. "I'm so sorry… For everything… I just want to know if you can forgive me…"
"There is nothing to forgive." The Prime was hesitant to do anything so strenuous so soon, but he still, very cautiously slid his other arm out from under Ratchet's back. He gently laid his mate flat on the berth, and Ratchet watched him through a misty haze over his dim optics. He was surprised watching his lover slide further down his frame. What was more surprising was how Optimus positioned himself between the medic's legs. "I miss being close to you as well. Four days without touching your metal was… Nothing compared to not being able to feel your presence. I thought… I feared you were pushing me away."
"No…! I could never…!" The medic winced as he tried to look down at Optimus whose faceplate was now aligned with Ratchet's codpiece. The taller mech gently licked the center of his mate's modesty cover only to test his reaction. The white mech shook lightly, and there was an edge of pain to his shudder, but he pushed past it. He even moaned softly over his parted lips and squeezed the sides of Optimus's chassis with his struts. "Ah… Optimus… I love you… Ah-hah!"
Because Ratchet was still so weak, he was also very sensitive. It didn't take too much convincing on Optimus's part to open his mate's paneling. His digits gently traced the outside of Ratchet's valve, encouraging the equipment to lubricate before inserting his glossa. He moaned hungerly over his lover's valve and used two of his digits to spread the outer lips further apart. Things were escalating so quickly that Optimus could already feel the mesh walls around his glossa constrict around it. He almost didn't notice Ratchet's spike panel had also opened and pressurized.
"Optimus…" Ratchet moaned wantonly as his chest heaved through both pain and pleasure. "You… Wh-What about you…? I—OH!"
Just as Optimus predicted, his bond mate's overload was quick and intense, just the way he wanted it. He even gripped and pumped his free servo over Ratchet's spike while he selfishly lapped up all of the medic's lubricants. Ratchet only screamed the Prime's name once before his heavy optics took hold of him and he fell immediately back into recharge. He was still shaking, even as Optimus sat up on his knees in front of the beautiful shivering mech. The wound in his chassis, though not as extensive as it was before, was still spark breaking to see. But Optimus still smiled at Ratchet happily. He was home, he was safe, and was himself. This was the fiery yet sensitive mech Optimus had fallen in love with so many centuries ago, and he felt so relieved to have him in his arms again.
"I love you so much Ratchet." He sighed while he repositioned himself next to the medic's side. "And I'm never letting you go again."
-TO BE CONTINUED-
