Say hello to chapter 12! Sorry that this is not a very long or eventful update, but I hope you enjoy it anyways.
These characters are not mine, I am just playing around with them. Enjoy!
New Light – Chapter 12
"and how does this feel? Any discomfort?" Ratchet gingerly tugged on Soundwave's wrist, prompting a groan of pain from the telepath. "Sorry," the medic gave a guilty look and gave an encouraging squeeze to Soundwave's shoulder with his free servo, "but I need to be certain that there is only one fracture in your wrist". Soundwave nodded with understanding, then watched as Ratchet stepped back to review the scans and reports he had just taken. Soundwave numbly cradled his wrist and tried to ignore the burning throbs that radiated from his servo to his shoulder.
Slowly, Soundwave's optics shifted to across the room. He couldn't help but smile as he watched Blaster recount the beach attack to Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl. Over Ratchet's mumbling and the whirring medical equipment, Soundwave couldn't quite make out what Blaster was saying (without using his telepathy… of course). However, with Blaster's animated narrative skills and aggravated hand gestures, Soundwave could almost hear the story. Blaster was so expressive sometimes, especially when he got worked up over something. Soundwave had to suppress a snicker at how much that contrasted Blaster's usual laid-back happy demeanor. Soundwave silently observed Optimus Prime's empathetic nodding, as well as Jazz's light-sparked discourse which very thinly attempted to conceal the stern anger with Megatron's actions. Prowl didn't even look at Blaster as he listened, his helm was tucked down, almost into his chest, as he rapidly wrote notes in a datapad. Soundwave hummed under his breath, it was odd how familiar he had become with all three of the mech's behaviour.
"Alright, Soundwave," Ratchet's voice called the blue mech's attention back to him. Ratchet placed his datapad back on a side table and reached out to take Soundwave's wrist in his grasp. Soundwave handed over his wrist and attempted not to wince as it was shifted. "As predicted, your wrist is broken, however, it is a simple fracture and fairly clean, so it shouldn't take too long for me to repair", Ratchet explained, pointing along the underside of Soundwave's wrist where the break was hidden. Soundwave nodded and watched as Ratchet began working on his wrist. A silence stood between the two of them, but it was comfortable. Soundwave marveled at the deep contrast from two weeks ago, with the odd and slightly suspicious silences that would stretch during his first stay in Ratchet's medbay.
Soundwave held still as Ratchet pricked him with a numbing agent. Before, long, he couldn't feel much of anything past his elbow, it was a wonderful relief from the throbbing pain he had been enduring. With steady servos, Ratchet opened up the underside of Soundwave's wrist, exposing circuitry, nerve endings, and a very fractured wrist strut. Soundwave leaned forward with curiosity to watch as Ratchet gently moved ligaments and nerves aside to better access the strut. It didn't take long for Ratchet to weld the broken strut back into place. Most of the operation was spent with Ratchet double checking for any other damage inside his arm. Not much time at all had passed before Ratchet began re-arranging and closing up Soundwave's wrist again.
"Thank you," Soundwave said softly. He realized how long it had been since he had last spoken. The medic looked up from wiping the energon off Soundwave's wrist to give an encouraging smile.
"You don't have to thank me," Ratchet murmured before looking back down at his work, "it's what I'm here for". None-the-less, Ratchet's field glowed a little brighter, it wasn't often that he was truly thanked for the little repairs. Always diligent, Ratchet gently maneuvered Soundwave's servo and wrist into different bends, ensuring that everything would settle properly. Soundwave watched patiently, he still couldn't feel anything in that arm.
Finally content with his work, Ratchet stepped back and nodded. The medic wiped his servos clean with a spare cloth and spoke, "your arm with probably remain numb for another couple of breems, it should be back to normal by the end of the day. Keep your weight off of your wrist, don't do anything physically taxing, and try to avoid writing with that servo for long durations of time for about a week". Soundwave nodded obediently and filed the information away for later referencing.
"Thank you… again," Soundwave murmured, "you clearly put much care into your work".
Ratchet smiled for a moment, then cleared his throat and returned to his usual professional demeanor. "Your welcome," he said simply.
A gentle servo suddenly rested in Soundwave's shoulder, and he turned to find that it was attached to Blaster. Behind Blaster, the rest of the medbay was empty. Soundwave hadn't even noticed as the Prime, Jazz, and Prowl left. It was likely that the three mechs wanted to give him privacy… which he greatly appreciated. The orange boombox smiled gently, his optics lingered for a moment on Soundwave's newly repaired wrist, "ready to go home?".
Soundwave nodded and let Blaster help him down from the medical berth. Even though his wrist was the only real damage he had sustained, Soundwave somehow felt incredibly stiff all throughout his frame. He let Blaster gently support him for a moment before he re-gained his balance, he continued to cradle his numbed servo against his chestplates. The two communications officers headed for the door.
"Keep him from over-exerting himself!" Ratchet called over his shoulder, not looking up from adding to his reports.
Blaster chuckled as they stepped out into the hallway before calling back, "I can try". Soundwave laughed softly as the doors closed behind them, "you will fail".
The remainder of the afternoon had been un-eventful, a stark (and appreciated) contrast with the morning. Soundwave's cassettes had stayed tucked away in his docks for a few more hours before they began mentally kicking him to be let out. It was so nice to be able to dock again, especially after such a scary event, but even the calmest of cassettes could get antsy. Before long, all 10 cassettes were out again, they evenly split their time between examining Soundwave's patched-up wrist and running around with excitement from how eventful their day had been. Rewind and Rumble put on a marvelous intimidation of Megatron stalking down the beach. It was both amusing and uncannily accurate, Soundwave could only let out a tense laugh. Ravage didn't move from Soundwave's lap for a great deal of the afternoon. Blaster also seemed to be glued to Soundwave's side… not that he minded, of course.
The evening found everyone huddled on the couch to watch a movie. Soundwave was apprehensive about the human entertainment, however, his creations seemed to enjoy it. Blaster did as well, apparently. Throughout the movie, each creation began to nod off to recharge. By the time that the credits rolled, all but Soundwave and Blaster were fast asleep. What followed was a number of trips to and from each berthroom to deliver and tuck in all 10 creations.
Soundwave sighed and returned to his position on the couch. A moment later, Blaster plopped himself next to the telepath. Blaster offered an energon goodie out to the blue mech, one they had made the night before. Soundwave smiled in appreciation and accepted it. Both mechs sat in a comfortable silence for a moment as they each worked on a goodie. Soundwave let out a pleased sigh and turned to Blaster, who was licking his fingers clean, "those really were good".
Blaster grinned back, "didn't I tell you that you would be glad we made 'em?".
Soundwave smiled, "Yes, however I think that the best part was making them with you".
Blaster tried (and failed) to mask a goofy smile at that, "yeah… that was a lot of fun, wasn't it?". Both carrier mechs sat in silence for a long moment, content to just relax next to each other. Soundwave absently stretched out and rolled his wrist. It still ached a bit, but it was clearly healing, and much more tolerable now.
Blaster watched Soundwave's wrist for a moment, "how does that feel?", he asked softly.
Soundwave gave his friend a re-assuring smile, "not bad… better". His smile suddenly dropped from his face.
"What's wrong?" Blaster inched closer to the blue mech, he let one of his servos gently rub at his friend's backstruts.
A melancholy sigh lifted from Soundwave's chest as he leaned into Blaster's touch. His optics didn't lift from his wrist, which was resting gingerly on his lap. "It's just…" Soundwave shifted to turn more towards Blaster, their knees pressed together as he leaned in. "I just was not expecting that level of aggression… today… from Megatron". Hurriedly, he added, "I have seen him aggressive before, of course. It has just never been directed towards me, until now". He suddenly lifted a servo to gently touch the side of Blaster's face, "and he hit you".
Blaster's engines whined as he forcefully held himself upright. Every inch of his processor begged him to lean in and press a kiss to Soundwave's lips… until he realized that Soundwave was only touching his cheek because that's where Megatron had struck him. He let a breath out from his nasal ridge and cleared his throat.
"It doesn't hurt anymore, it's really nothing" he assured gently. Soundwave watched him silently, his servo lingered on the side of his faceplates for a moment longer before it was retracted. Blaster immediately longer for its presence to return.
Soundwave's gaze returned to his lap. Instinctively, Blaster leaned closer to wrap his arm around his friend's shoulder. Soundwave leaned into the embrace. "whether or not it still hurts… it was not okay," Soundwave's voice was so low that Blaster had to strain to hear it. "It was inexcusable for Megatron to hurt you… or threaten our creations," Soundwave continued, his voice began to strengthen, "or to hurt me". His sad gaze shifted into a frustrated glare, still focusing on his lap. "The Megatron I once followed never would have done that… he never would have threatened me to return when I was critically injured either", his servos began to ball up into fists.
Blaster gently took Soundwave's repaired wrist in his servo and tried to loosen Soundwave's grasp. "Easy, gentle… please," he breathed, "don't do that so tight, you could hurt your wrist".
Soundwave let out a pressurized breath and loosened his servos and shoulders. He almost went limp against Blaster, his optics glazed over and he spoke in a numb voice, "I thought I knew who he was, I thought I knew what our cause was about… but the more time I spend away from all of it, and the more time I spend outside of his influence, the more I realize how wrong he is… how wrong I have been". The tremor in his voice poured over as he leaned forward to press his faceplates into his servos. Coolant began to leak from his optics and down his faceplates. "I was so blinded by my rage at the way that Cybertron had been, I completely lost sight of what I was fighting for. How could I?" he sobbed in shame, "I have done such horrible things in this war".
Blaster tensed and immediately pulled Soundwave closer. He gently guided Soundwave to sit up and lean against his frame. Soundwave quietly let Blaster move him and turned his frame to press against Blaster, he hid his faceplates into his friend's shoulder and wept. Blaster hugged Soundwave tight, his servo soothed over blue backstruts. "It's okay, it's alright" he tried to hum softly, but Soundwave stayed curled into his frame.
"I think we all have kinda lost our way since this war began," Blaster soothed, "we just need to work together to stay on track". He gently rocked back and forth, trying his best to sooth his friend.
Eventually, Soundwave's weeping began to subside. He turned his faceplates to rest his cheek on Blaster's shoulder. The telepath sighed and scrubbed his faceplates with a weary servo, then slowly pushed himself back up, out of Blaster's arms. Blaster tried not to notice how much he wanted to keep holding Soundwave.
"I apologise," Soundwave murmured as he finished wiping the tears from his optics. "I… I don't typically weep that often," He began to crack a smile, "I have cried too many times around you, you must think I am soft".
Blaster urgently shook his helm, "no, no of course not!" he assured, "you're in the middle of going through a huge life change, of course you're gonna get a little emotional. That's totally understandable".
Soundwave's expression sharpened as he nodded, "I suppose you are correct," he murmured, "it almost feels as thought I am mourning a part of my life, some part of me that I couldn't keep". He ducked his helm down in thought. "I think I am ready" he said.
Blaster's optics focused on his friend, he gave a puzzled look, "ready for what?".
"Ready to complete this shift in my life," Soundwave explained. His servo brushed against the empty spot on his chestplates, where the Decepticon insignia was once proudly placed. "I will never be a Decepticon again, not after all of this," he looked back up at Blaster, who was still watching him with puzzled optics.
"I don't want to be a neutral anymore," Soundwave explained. Understanding began to dawn in Blaster's optics.
"Are you actually saying that you want to be…" Blaster trailed off, his field radiated excitement and uncertainty.
"an Autobot." Soundwave said.
I hope ya'll enjoyed this! Like I said before, there will be more chapters, so subscribe and keep your eyes peeled for more if you're interested! Feel free to leave a like and comment! I love to hear your feedback.
