The Iacon Hall of Records was once a place of calm. Where one could collect their thoughts and research without the bothers of the outside world. But now, thousands of years later, the still relatively intact structure was the staging ground for a party.
Autobots of all shapes and sizes chatted and laughed between swigs of a pink liquid known as Engex. The newly arrived Autobots had several crates of the beverage on their ship, much to the confusion and gratitude of the others. Despite centuries of war they had somehow managed to keep hold of it.
Having similar effects to human alcohol, some of the bots who'd had a little too much to drink acted with more gusto than usual. Some of them would alao be guaranteed a processor ache the next morning.
After team Prime's long and painful recount of the events that led up to the restoration of Cybertron, the room had become uncomfortably quiet. It was Ultra Magnus who encouraged the renewal of the party, telling the bots that the finer details of their future would be discussed later. The party had eventually resumed, but it was now tainted with the loss of Optimus Prime.
After the talk, Arcee noticed Jazz slink off alone outside. She waited for a few minutes, before eventually deciding to follow the Autobot.
Jazz sat on the edge of a metal balcony, musing over the young night. It wasn't fair. He'd just found out that two of his closest friends were now dead. It was a lot to take in. Jazz doubted he even fully understood what this meant for his and the Autobot's future. Optimus was a great leader, and no matter how hard they may look, Jazz knew in his spark that they could never replace him.
The sound of movement from behind snapped Jazz out of his thoughts. "Hey." Jazz turned to see that it was Arcee who had interrupted him. She closed the door behind her, muffling the sound of the party beyond.
"I was going to do that." Jazz said nonchalantly. Arcee raised a quick eyebrow and placed herself next to him, both staring out into the night time city. They sat there for a moment, in silence. Neither of them exactly knew what to say to the other.
It was Jazz who ended up breaking their vigil. "Towards the end of the war on Cybertron, me and Cliff were sent into the sea of rust to track down an Autobot squad that abandoned their post; Grimlock's squad." Arcee's eyes widened at the name but she let Jazz continue. "We eventually found that they'd been taken by Shockwave. Primus knows what he did to them. We later found him tinkering with some sort of ancient Space Bridge. We could've taken him out." Arcee raised an eyebrow. "Well, we probably could've taken him out. But Cliff insisted that he got his 'jump on', as he phrased it. Shockwave saw him coming, so we ended up blowing the place. I think he was just worried that I'd take all the credit." He chuckled.
Arcee gave a smile back. "That does sound a lot like Cliff."
"Yeah. I probably should've stuck by him more. Guess he did need a new partner after all."
Arcee suddenly looked apologetic. "Jazz, I-"
"It's okay Cee. I don't blame either of you. I'm more angry with myself for leaving him to go back alone. But it was probably for the better, I don't think he could've found a better partner than you."
Arcee smiled at his compliment but still felt that Jazz was being too hard on himself. "Jazz, even if you were there you probably would've died too. Cliff never resented you for letting him go alone. He would sometimes tell stories of your adventures together, but understood that you had to go your separate ways." She placed a hand on his shoulder as a sign of assurance.
Jazz sighed. "I guess you're probably right, but I still feel as if maybe things would be better if we'd all stayed with Optimus."
"We couldn't stay on the Ark forever. We all had places to go, things we needed to do, friends to make...and leave behind." She felt her own sadness well up inside her as she said those words.
"Oh well, I couldn't be Optimus' first lieutenant forever. Too much responsibility, even if he was a good friend. You're much better suited for the job than I ever was. I just wish I could've seen him one more time. He may have seemed wise and powerful, but he wasn't always like that."
Arcee wondered what Optimus was like before he was made a Prime, she only ever knew him as the leader of the Autobots. His personal and past life was something that only a select few were privvy to. Jazz was one of them. "Look, Jazz. We'll always have Cliff and Optimus as we remember them, in here." She pointed to her chest, wherein lay her spark, the heart and soul of every Cybertronian. "What we need to do is focus on making a better future for a new generation. So they don't have to live with the regret we do."
Jazz knew Arcee was right. He turned and gave her a slight grin. "Now I know you've been hanging around Optimus too long."
Arcee smiled back, motioning towards the door that led back inside. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."
Jazz laughed. "It's my Engex! You're lucky I'm not charging you, I nearly died stealing those crates from the cons!"
The two bots rejoined the party, deciding to enjoy the rest of the night.
Author's Notes: So I tried my best to have Jazz and Arcee's interaction feel natural but it probably couldv'e been done better somehow. It ended up coming off similar to Arcee and Wheeljack's interaction in Season 3. I hope it seemed consistent with their characters. Because Jazz was friends with both Cliffjumper and Optimus, it was difficult to juggle the feeling of guilt he has about both of them. I'm entering a busy year now so I'll try to update this as often as I can though I'll aim for once or twice a month (at least), depending on the length of the chapter. My plans for this story are also a bit all over the place at the moment so I'll try to organise things before I write too much and then realise I've missed or messed up something. Until next time! ;)