The next morning Jazz and Prowl had awoken first, Prowl leaving early for work and Jazz staying behind to do whatever he wished, and oddly enough he felt so bored he had actually started cleaning around.
Usually this task was Prowl's, since the mech had an undying need for order, but with how busy they had been, and how long the ark's quarters had been left empty, everything was still dusty and in need of being taken care of.
So Jazz busied himself doing that, happy with how lively the room got whenever he finished cleaning certain areas.
He was in the process of cleaning an empty shelf where Prowl's old enforcer equipment would be put when they got it back when he heard a large THUMP!
Blinking, he turned to where the sound had come from Lyric's bedroom. Curiously, and a little worried she might have fallen off the berth, or worse, pushed Lacey off it, he hovered his chair to the door and listened, he heard a pained groan from Lyric from the other side.
Frowning he ordered the door to open, and it revealed the room, just in time for him to see his creation in mid air doing a flip, Lacey sitting on the berth across from him.
His creation caught sight of him in the middle of her action and lost focus, landing flat on her front on the floor with another loud THUMP!
Jazz stayed frozen at the door, looking at his creation on the floor as she let out another pained groan, pulling herself up slowly.
"Am Ah missin somethin...?" Jazz asked slowly, switching his glance between the smaller cybertronian and his creation.
"We were exploring!" Lacey said in a chirpy tone.
"Explorin' the amount o'pain ya can get from flippin' in the air?" Jazz asked sceptically as Lyric got to her pedes and dizzily sitting on the table.
"We were exploring how much I can do with this new body" Lyric explained, looking a little embarrassed. "I can do so much more now than I used to... I don't have to actually develop muscles in this body." she sounded a tiny bit excited about it.
Jazz grew an easy going grin, chuckling lightly.
"Ah see, soon enough we'll be havin' ya trainin' before ya do more than fall on yer face"
Lyric duck her head, clearly embarrassed. "It started out as just testing how high I could jump...then we got a little carried away."
"Yeahhhh just a little" Lacey said cheekily.
"Well how 'bout ya take a break from all that ...explorin', an' come an' have breakfast?" he suggested, turning his chair around.
The two perked up at the mention.
"Do you have any organic food?" Lacey asked as Lyric picked her up.
"Since yer in yer human body ya can still eat organic food, but theoretically ya can eat what we eat." Jazz explained as they followed him.
"Do I have to drink that glowy pinky stuff?" she asked again, hugging Lyric's indicator finger, her legs hanging off the hand.
Jazz chuckled again "Ya will have ta eventually." He told her, hovering over to the kitchen, picking up empty cubes and putting them in the private dispenser.
Lyric sat Lacey on the counter, moving to help Jazz with the cubes.
"You can at least try it right?" She asked her friend, setting down her own cube and then Jazz's.
"do'yall have a cup small enough for me?" Lacey asked, looking between the two cubes almost her size.
"Hmmm..." Jazz hummed thoughtfully, looking around the kitchen area. "Lyric? Sparkles think ya can reach up that cabinet?"
"Uh... sure" the young femme said, moving back around the counter to reach said cabinet, she opened it and peered in "what am I looking for?"
"There's some small mixin' bowls in there, there should be some that are small enough" He instructed.
"Hmmmm" she searched around, making her optics brighter to illuminate it. "Ah...I'm guessing its these...they look like soy sauce bowls."
"Somethin' o'the sort" Jazz agreed as she closed it again, it was small enough to pass as a large plate.
"There we go" Jazz said taking the offered object, he then took Lyric's cube and poured some carefully into it, then handed it over to the organic. "bottom's up"
Lacey looked it over critically, poking the side of the bowl first a little.
"What does it taste like?"
"Its hard to explain, I don't have a good enough comparison to human food" Lyric said, sitting back down across from Jazz. "Its not too bad... though it gets kinda bland after eating it every time..."
"Once yer back ta full health we can start givin' ya different types o'energon" Jazz informed "righ' now yer still on medical grade though, it does tend ta get dull."
"Is it gonna taste like cough medicine then?" Lacey asked, narrowing her eyes at the mech.
"Our version of it" he said with a shrug.
"Is it...?" Lyric asked, shaking her cube a little. "its not as bad as human medicine then..."
"Well...that's a plus... I guess..." the organic agreed, carefully bringing the bowl closer to herself, sniffing it first before taking a careful slip.
The two cybertronians waited anxiously for her reaction as she slowly took in the liquid, tasted it and then gulped it down, snapping her lips experimentally.
"Well...its not candy, but its okay...and its definitely not like medicine" she agreed.
"Ya will be drinkin' that only fer a while once ya change into yer body" Jazz informed "it helps ya gettin' used ta everythin'. Doesn't really give ya a good boost on yer energy levels but it does help yer systems settle an' adjust."
"Is that why I spent so long sleeping in the beginning?" Lyric asked incredulously.
"Yeppers...well tha' an the fact that ya changed inta two bodies in a short time span" he explained, sipping at his own drink.
They fell silent for a moment, Lacey's mind wondering on what they had just said.
Eventually she couldn't keep the questions in any longer.
"When am I changing into a new body?"
"When we got the materials fer it" Jazz responded easily "an' if not when we run outta time, then when ya feel ready"
"I would stay in that body for as long as I could Lacey, once out of it, you can't go back." Lyric informed. "with that form, if you get lucky and we get to go outside, you can at least still slip within the humans. Get things you want or need before we go" she explained.
Lacey thought on that for a long moment, before she sighed in resignation "I don't know... I actually don't know what I'd like to get and bring with me." she finally said.
"I can relate, I thought about it before as well, what would I bring with me? Clothes would not fit me anymore, animals would die due to lack of oxygen and food, eletronics are kind of pointless, food is pointless...the only things I could come up with was music, videogames and books...which these guys got pretty covered."
"What about your drawings?" Lacey asked curiously, noting how her friend's optics dimmed, her lips tightening
"I... thought about...about getting my files from my computer at least...but the risks..."
"Got that covered as well" Jazz interrupted, grinning at his surprised created.
"Prowler an' Ah would often take copies o'yer work"
"oh god... you've been SPYING on my computer!You little-"
"Special ops sweets, its mah job." Jazz grinned, unaffected by her stupor. "an' besides, hackin' inta a human computer is easy work".
"Still! That's my private property!" She said, huffing and puffing her armor.
"Aren't ya glad Ah did so though?" Jazz said teasingly "now ya can have all yer files back"
"Um... I hate to interrupt, but does that mean mine was backed up too?" Lacey input.
"Should be" Jazz explained "it was Ironhide's job."
"Speaking of which" Lyric spoke up "any news on him? This is really ridiculous..." she looked at her friend pitifully.
Jazz frowned. " Nothin' Ah'm afraid. Prowler's keepin' an optic out while he works."
"As much as I'm totally enjoyin' hangin' out with Lyric, I do wish ta know..." Lacey said wearily.
"Would it be all right if we go looking for him? He's gotta be somewhere around" Lyric suggested, looking pleadingly to her carrier, trying to pull the best puppy dog look she could, she was still learning how to do that in the cybertronian version, but she had noticed that her doorwings seemed to do the trick for Jazz.
The mech hummed thoughtfully, considering.
"Ya promise not ta get outta the ship this time?"
"Yes, I won't go anywhere outside the ship." she promised. "I swear. I'm more interested in finding Ironhide right now, get this sorted."
"Findin' im might not be how ya think it'll go" He pointed out.
"Still... enough is enough. He needs to man up and take responsibility."
"Yeah!" Lacey piped up, raising a fist in the air. "I want to give him a piece of my mind!"
"Jus' listen to 'im first before ya tell 'im things ya might regret later" he advised.
"He shoved me in a freakin' box! You can't expect me not to yell at him for that!"
"Okay okay" he said raising his hands in his defense "Ah guess ya can yell at 'im fer that, though I'd still let 'im speak first."
"We'll consider it" Lyric said promptly "so can we go?!"
"Yes, but ya gotta be back by lunch time" he said, crossing his arms over his chassis. "that means at noon missy, no comin' late."
"Got it" she said with a firm nod, getting up from her chair. "ready Lacey? We're going to hunt down your creator!"
"You bet I'm ready!" Lacey said, running over to her hand.
They searched everywhere, it was almost noon now and they still had yet to find Ironhide, they had gotten to know the ark almost by memory now with how many rounds they had taken around the place.
"How can a mech so big and so loud hide for so long?" Lyric asked out loud in frustration, briefly greeting trail breaker as he walked past them.
"Beats me" Lacey said from her shoulder, equally frustrated, she knew more about the rest of the crew than she did Ironhide by now, many having stopped when they met them in their search and others to whom Lyric asked for clues on the weapon specialist's whereabouts.
Lyric sighed "lets try the recroom again... it should be filling up at this hour... then we go back to my place."
"Kay..." Lacey said tiredly "we've been at this for hours anyway... I'm starving..."
Lyric frowned "it hasn't been that long..."
"Yeah it has." Lacey insisted. "check your clock."
Lyric did so, and was surprised. She hadn't realized it until then, but all this time, she had been reading the wrong clock in her hud, she had been reading the cybertronian clock.
So quickly she tried to search a conversion program to see what time it really was.
"Holly...no wonder..." she was surprised. "I didn't realize Cybertronian hours were so long... all this time its been three hours for me, but for humans... its been almost an entire day... since when did I get used to this?"
"I guess that's another thing from your new body" Lacey commented tiredly. "Dude its been almost all day...and I'm starving...wasting awayyyyyy" she said, her silliness coming back now that she was so tired.
"I'm so sorry... I didn't realize... lets get you some energon kay? Right after the rec room, I promise."
"Pft, he's not gonna be there anyway" the organic said with a huff, crossing her arms and leaning against her friend's helmet.
Lyric refrained from commenting on that, she was discouraged enough as it was about Ironhide, she didn't want to make it any worse. He had been a nice mech when she'd met him, he could be a brighter future for her friend, and she wasn't about to block her from that chance.
Before either could think on anything else to say, the faint sounds of yelling started coming from ahead.
"That's weird..." Lyric's optics narrowed, the femme fine tuning her audios. "that sounds like Windy..."
"And someone else." Lacey noted, perking up.
"I think its coming from the rec room" Lyric hurried up, doorwings set firmly behind her and her pace determined.
" And what the HELL makes you think I even want to be here in the first place?! You're the one who brought me here! I only said okay because I fucking thought you'd get in and out, but-oh no-nope! Wrong! Tell me, what sort of change in my behavior showed I was in even mildly interested in hanging out with ANYONE, much less you?! " They heard their friend shout. " You don't like my attitude? Oho, well TOO FUCKING BAD! You're going to take me in here and do shit I want nothing to do with, you better sure as hell know I'll be in a dangerous fucking mood! "
Lyric winced inwardly at the amaunt of cursing, hearing mirage's own yells now.
"Watch your language young lady! You are behaving most inapropriatly! Like it or not the world does NOT revolve around yourself!"
" Since I'm such a brat, then maybe you should do yourself a favor and SEND ME BACK! "
Lacey winced at that one this time. Wow, that was harsh.
"I have a feeling things are about to get very harsh..." She spoke, looking up at the femme sheepishly.
" I didn't mean it like that! " Mirage told her.
" Well I certainly wish that you did! It'd make it a whole lot easier to get you to take me fucking HOME! I'm done playing along with this! " Windy continued to shout loudly.
" And put their lives in danger?! Now you really are being selfish! The only thing protecting them now, is the fact that you aren't there! "
" WHAT'S THE POINT IF I DON'T EVEN GET TO SEE THEM!? IF I CAN'T EVEN TALK TO THEM!? " she screamed shrilly. " I DON'T CARE IF I'M BEING SELFISH! OR IF ANYONE HERE THINKS I'M A BITCH! You FUCKERS are planning an indefinite trip away from the PLANET which might as well be FOREVER since chances are that when we get back, MY FAMILY WILL BE LONG DEAD IN THEIR GRAVES, FORCING me to be stuck with NO ONE but STRANGERS! I'm already cursed to live god-knows-how-long, where they'll be nothing but a FUCKING SPECK in my life! If I'm going to be forced to live that long, then I want to be with them as much as possible! My whole family has each other for comfort, if I'm killed! When they go, I'll have no-one! If I can't have that, THEN YOU SHOULD'VE FUCKING LET ME DIE BACK THERE!"
Mirage didn't reply, too shocked from those words, too hurt, even if he didn't let it show.
That was when Lyric managed to burst into the room, quickly spotting the two.
"Windy!" she called, rushing over. "What the hell is going on here?!" there were a lot of bots around in their own tables, all of them quiet and looking.
Windy turned her gaze towards them. Normally she'd be embarrassed to have had such an outburst in front of anyone but her family, and even then, she'd still have some shame. If she felt that way at all, it was vastly outmatched by the negative emotions powering her glare.
She gave a snort, folding her arms as she looked away. " Just me pissing about how much I resent having been born and being expected to accept this 'life'..."
Lyric and Lacey exchanged looks between Windy and Mirage.
Eventually Mirage sighed, nodding to them, and walked out of the room without another word.
Lyric bent down, offering a hand to her friend "Come on... lets get you out of this place..." she suggested in a soothing tone.
"Yeah." Lacey agreed eagerly. Negativity and shouting wasn't her cup of tea, so any chance she got to lighten the mood, she was all over it.
"How about you come help us out? You can be the Sherlock to our Watson."
" No offense, but I'm not interested. At all. " She said in blunt tone. " If I'm going to hitch a ride, it's going to be back to 'my room'. "
"your room is their room "Lyric pointed out logically "if you come with us we can at least get you away from them for a while, get you some privacy...and you can talk to us all you want about this...its not much, but we're the closest thing you've got now to whats out there."
" I BARELY know you guys. Everyone but you, at least. We only met a few months before this hellhole. Over cartoons and other crap that kinda feels like insignificant bullshit right now, all things considered. " She said, tone becoming more hostile. " And yes, it's 'their room'. But unless they're complete dumbshits, I'm pretty sure they'll be leaving me alone. Which is what I want. "
Lyric frowned "I just want to help you. I can't fix everything, but I can make it better, if you let me.
I'm not going to force you into anything, but please think about it Windy, you're making it so you WILL be completly alone. You don't WANT to go there, you know I've been there, I'm telling you you don't want to be in that place."
"We at least know some of what you're going through. I didn't really have a family before they burst into my life, but I know how it feels to think one thing, only to find out everything I once knew was a lie." Lacey added meekly.
" You know what, guys? I really...REALLY don't want to hear it. Because at the end of the day past all the dramas and traumas, your ups and downs, you're the ones that are getting a better life and the happy loving families you never had, even if the prospect of being killed is at an all time high. " Windy snapped. " Yeah, you're the closest thing I have to my family right now. But the more I see you guys, the more angry I get. At everything. "
"At least your parents are around you..." Lacey began, frowning."My 'father' won't face me, either out of fear or blantant not caring, and no one will tell me about my 'mother'. I'm starting to think there is no mother in my picture."
Frowning in thought, she then offered to change the subject. "Have you at least eaten yet?"
" Not hungry. " Windy said turning her back to them now, instead beginning to risk injury by intending to climb down while her anger still bubbled inside her, muting her fear of heights. " And the only reason why you're big bad bear of a 'papa' isn't around is because he's had the honor of catching bits of my previous bitchings to my lovely owners, so he's scared shitless of rejection. They all are, now more then ever...I know-I'm a horrible person. "
"WHY are you being so difficult?!" Lyric said, starting to lose her own patience " we get it, its hard! But you're NOT making it any easier! ESPECIALLY on yourself!"
"You shouldn't be fine with that!" Lacey agreed, a little hurt now that her attempts were proving fruitless.
"I don't CARE!" Windy burst out "its easy for YOU to say those things! But I'm the one that's losing my family! I'm the one that no matter what is going to be alone anyways!" they could see that tears had started to gather at the corner of her eyes "I'll never get to see the ones I love ever again! And its their fault! They might as well have left me to die! I don't WANT to be here!I don't want to suffer through this fucking shit!" Her voice was gradually breaking, until it sounded like a little girl crying, defenseless and scared.
It was enough to break Lyric's anger into nothingness, the femme cupping her friend protectively in her hands.
"We know... that's why, whether you like it or not, we're going to be here for you." She said, making her way out, glaring at the mechs that were still staring at them before the doors closed behind them.
Convincing Jazz to let Windy stay with them had been no problem, an organic really didn't take that much space... and it was a comfort in a way to have the others close to Lyric.
On the other hand, they'd soon learned that Windy wished to be left alone in Lyric's room, so they let her be for the rest of the day and went to their own thing.
When night time came and Lyric had to put Lacey to bed, they found that Windy was already asleep in one of the makeshift beds they had set up for them.
Lacey had soon followed into the land of bliss, but Lyric stayed awake, unable to rest, her friend's words going over her mind, echoing, growing a hole somewhere deep inside.
Eventually minutes turned into hours... every tiny little sound could be heard, she was deathly alert, often looking to the side to check on her sleeping room mates.
Then suddenly, somewhere around three am she felt a surge of energy and feelings, it startled her enough to let a gasp out, but it didn't hurt, in fact it had been joyous, loving, tender. And as fast as it came, it was gone, leaving a warm feeling of love in its tracks.
It took her a moment to realize that it had probably come from Prowl and Jazz...so they were still awake...
Temptingly, she looked at the door, wondering for a moment before she silently got up from her berth, and ordered the door to open.
The living room was dark and quiet, she stepped out none the less, walking over to her creator's room door, the light was on red, meaning it was locked. She looked back towards the exit door of their quarters, only to see the same red light.
Sighing, she gathered her courage for a few minutes before she finally pressed the buzzer on the door to ask for permission to come in.
A few more minutes passed before she felt a presence snake its way to her spark, checking if she was awake.
She responded in kind, recognizing it as Prowl's.
' Prowl? Are you awake?' she asked just to be certain.
' Please wait a moment, I will be out in a few kliks' he responded, his voice sounding a little more emotional than it usually did, and not in a bad way.
Lyric did so, getting out from being in front of the door, leaning against the wall quietly, her optics on her pedes.
Eventually the door hissed open, allowing Prowl outside, he quickly closed it behind him, looking at his creation cautiously.
"Lyric" he called softly "Is something the matter?" he was stiff and apprehensive, though the young femme could not see that for she kept her optics on the floor.
"Yeah...sorry. I … I was wondering if I could go for a walk...I couldn't recharge" she explained. "The door was locked so..." she shifted a little uncomfortably.
His optic ridges rose in surprise, the mech relaxing now that he understood the problem a bit more.
"I see, what is keeping you from recharge?" He asked, resting an arm around her shoulders, guiding her further into the room, ordering for the lights to come on dimn.
"Its...its nothing... I'm just a little disturbed is all...confused..."
"Does this have to do with what happened earlier between your friend and her creator?"
She nodded faintly, accepting the mech's guidance over to the couch and sinking onto it with a loud ex vent.
"I can't stop worrying about her... I feel so useless." she admitted, watching as Prowl sat next to her, a hand resting between her doorwings.
"It is a difficult situation I admit" He said thoughtfully. "Perhaps, this is not something you can solve alone, have you considered that?"
"Well yeah I have..." she admitted tiredly, completely oblivious to the mech pulling her closer to himself, making her leaning against him. "I mean her creators are clearly trying... me and Lacey too... but I'm not sure that's enough... Prowl she WANTS to die if she can't stay with her human family. I mean I miss mine too... to some extent" Prowl frowned at this, worried, but did not let her see it, moving to pet her helm against his chassis. "But my parents grew neglectful of me very early on...I can't say I miss them too much... I wouldn't want them dead or anything...but in a way I felt ready to let go... but Windy... she's so much younger...and her family did love her and coddle her a lot."
"It will be difficult for her to accept." He agreed, embracing his child close, her body felt cold compared to his own. But it was only natural to feel that way. "If at all possible...short of erasing her memory files, she will likely have to live with that grief for the rest of her life."
Lyric let out a small whimper at the idea, curling up closer to him.
"I don't want that for her...she's my friend... Prowl please...is there really no better way to fix it for her?"
"I'm afraid not." He said with controlled calm.
"I don't want to see her suffer like this... she'll kill herself eventually, go mad with grief..." she subconsciously clung to her Sire, not realizing how needed she must have seemed then, the exhaustion and the sadness clouding her processor and pride.
"We will see how she does for a while longer, if it comes to it, we can propose a memory erase." He offered.
"Won't she forget about us then? About me?"
Prowl took a moment, knowing the answer, but not pleased with having to tell it to his creation.
"Yes." he confirmed, feeling how his child's form trembled at the simple word. "Her personality chips and spark would remain the same, she would still feel her grief partially, and act accordingly to her personality, but without the memory files she will not be able to place that pain for long and will be eased from the grief faster."
"I don't want to lose her...it would be like she'd die."
"No, Lyric she would not at all die, it is more like when humans have amnesia, it is still them, and they still posses feelings of the past, but they cannot remember things associated to them, so they accept easily." He tried to explain.
"I don't know how she'll take that offer..." she murmured, optics dimming as the comfort of the body holding her lulled her.
"We will see in time." He said, continuing with his petting on the young femme, watching her sag tiredly.
' Jazz?' he called through the bond ' is the berth clean?'
'Ya Prowler, Berth's clean, there's no signs left, the ventilation took care o'the smell pretty quick. Did she hear us?'
' It would seem not, she was merely having difficulties with recharging, I will be bringing her with me. I believe returning her to her room would result in a rechargeless night'
Jazz sent him the feeling of a query, to which Prowl pushed down, telling him he'd explain later.
Moving around his creation he adjusted her slightly "Come, lets get you to a berth. You need rest." he told her.
"I don't want to go back in there..." she said in a small voice.
"I am aware." he said, lifting her off the couch, the femme letting out a little yelp of surprise. "You can recharge with us for tonight." he explained, holding her close, feeling the heat radiating from her cheekplates.
"T-thank you..." she mumbled, ducking her head into his neck.
"You are more than welcome" he said, opening his door and entering their dark room, Jazz shifted on the berth, his visor visible in the dark.
As soon as Prowl laid her down the saboteur pulled her closer to himself, snuggling her into a protective embrace.
Prowl soon followed, covering the other side, effectively the two cocooning her in warmth and comfort, finally giving the femme what she needed to recharge.
A large thanks to the real Windy and Lacey who gave me precious input for this chapter. I couldn't have done it without you guys!