The sun had set hours ago, the cloud of dust and smoke had long since dissipated into the cool night air. Generators hummed, vehicles and lamps lit up the encampment at the edge of the base.
Danielle lay on a thin cot on the ground, largely ignored as she was not in mortal danger like many of those around her. She wanted to cry from confusion, frustration, and fear, but didn't have the energy after the day's events.
She watched the sliver of dark sky she could glimpse between her tent and the next one over. Pinpoints of light rotated in and out of view slowly, passively holding her attention until her thoughts returned to what the nurse had said.
You can' t walk.
The words played over and over in her mind alongside memories of visions of all the activities she had done, dancing, running walking! Privileges she had taken for granted all this time. None of that would be possible if she couldn't use her legs anymore.
Maybe the nurse was wrong, or didn't know all the information. Maybe she only meant right now, while I heal? That must be it, it's just temporary. I can't never walk again! How could she just say something like that and WALK AWAY like it wasn't a bomb she just placed in my lap?
Her thoughts began to race as anger began to bubble up.
Why did this happen to me? Why me?! How do I fix this?
"Danielle?" a blond haired, blue eyed young man came into view above her, a worried smile on his lips. "I finally found you!"
"Bee?!" she whispered with a choked voice, trying to push down the anger and fear, now crowded with relief and confusion. His face was there, but she could see the tent ceiling through him.
He knelt down next to her and tried to grasp her hand, only for it to pass through her, leaving a buzzing sensation on her skin. "Oh" was all he managed to say.
She stared at him, mouth open but no words came. The last time she saw his human persona, they had danced, but now she looked at him and saw the battle, sitting on his mech shoulder looking beyond his cannon at… hell. Then again in the hospital room, he held her hand as she fell into what she thought was death. Foggy memories of that abyss, of the odd ethereal wisp she became, feeling like a detached soul and dancing with the distinctly other life that was in there with her.
"Do you remember it?" she pleaded, desperate to know if it had been real. "Was that you? He was already dead, it couldn't have been him. Did you come find me? Did you save me?"
Bee was confused, her questions so rambled that he wasn't sure what to make of them. "I don't understand, what are you asking…"
Agitated, her voice rose. "The dark place! That endless void that felt like it wanted both to console and destroy me! Someone, or something, was there with me, and it somehow felt like you! Please, you have to remember that? I haven't been able to get it out of my head since that day, it practically lives in my mind now. You can't have just forgotten!"
The panic in her voice set him on edge, and he wanted nothing more in this world than to be able to gather her in his arms and tell her it was just a dream, that everything was going to be okay. His damaged beacon was barely able to hold this form as it was, so hugging her was clearly out of the realm of possibility.
"I remember holding your hand," he said, "but after that, I only remember coming back into the waking world feeling electrified but also anxious beyond reason. I'm so sorry I haven't come back to you sooner, I can't imagine what you've been through."
His words did little to sooth her, and she found herself questioning her own sanity. How could he not remember? What did this mean? Had any of it been real? Covering her face with her hands, she tried desperately to block out her own thoughts, to silence the voices that screamed in her head and shredded her reality.
"I'm sorry, Danielle, please tell me what I can do. Do you want me to leave you alone? Or I could send Mirage to keep you company. I don't know how to help you." he lamented, despair heavy in his voice.
She looked up at him with sad tortured eyes, not knowing the answer either. She tried to grab his hand, sensing only that same buzzing from before, but it was enough. "Stay here, please don't leave me alone again.
He tried to squeeze her hand in his, sending subtle waves of electricity swimming up her arm. "It will never happen again" he vowed, "I promise."
Earlier in the day, Optimus, Ironhide, and Colonel Lennox had glimpsed the triage camp in the distance as they traveled along the long empty highway into the base. Following in their comrades' footsteps, the trio found their way to Lieutenant General Reims as she patrolled the encampment, reverifying that orders were being followed and survivors' needs were being met.
She allowed a brief conversation before ordering Lennox off to a security detail and dismissing the Autobots. Mirage quickly spotted them looming over the tent tops and informed them of what he knew of the base, the people, and the situation. They put their strength to work where they could, moving generators, vehicles, and large far-flung debris.
Ironhide stumbled upon the parked camaro later into the evening while transporting crates of weapons and supplies to the southernmost defenses. He decided not to bother the kid. Bumblebee was probably with the girl and wouldn't need his teammates trying to get in the way of his priorities.
Deep into the night time, Optimus and Mirage approached the north hangar with caution long after the dust had been swept far to the northeast by the desert winds.
Probing the darkness with strong beams of light from their forearms, they found that little remained of the aluminium roof or walls, some jagged sheets of it lay twisted and gruesome around what remained of the structure's bones. The seemingly impenetrable gloom beyond held tightly to its secrets of what remained. Grim shapes littered the sand around the bots, no sound beyond the groans of loose metal suspended from the creeping rafters, swaying in the blackness.
"So many lives," Optimus sighed, sweeping his light across the ground, briefly lifting the veil of night that enshrouded the carnage intermingled with shrapnel and sand. "They should not have died for their research, but while we cannot make it worth their lives, we still have a chance to make something from it."