C.M.D: Here you all are; an extra bonus chapter on this lovely-dovey day~
"I can't believe he would do such a thing, X-Brawn! It's beyond incomprehensible; it's downright reprehensible!"
Yellow high-beams cut a glaring line through the darkness, the dodge viper speeding through poorly lit roads that twisted and turned, getting ever farther away from the city. At his bumper, the ghostly words followed.
"For once, I gotta agree with ya, Prowl. Who knows what honky-tonk thoughts were fillin' young Wedge's processor. He knows the Predacons are dangerous!"
Sure, dangerous... Yet Sky-Byte hadn't put up a fight; merely allowed himself to be blasted over the side of the cliff as the Build team stormed the overgrown shrine.
"Thank Primus Side Burn took this seriously for once. Wedge willfully putting himself in jeopardy, without anyone's knowledge?! I still think Optimus was too lax on him, letting the others in his crew mete out punishment."
The sullen pout Wedge bore, as Heavy Load and Optimus discussed the young Autobot's recent actions and subsequent consequences, implied that he felt no remorse for what he'd done.
"Now, Prowl, be reasonable. The Build team is a cohesive unit, not unlike our own lil' family. Optimus ain't sittin' things on the back burner; he's trustin' in the responsibility of those 'bots, who are more attuned to Wedge's needs and feelings. If it were Side Burn up to some mischief, would ya take kindly to the Prime hittin' him with a set series of punishments, without a word spoken to us, every single time?"
A chastising from Optimus Prime seemed such a delight compared to right now.
"Well... Okay, no. I just- I think I need a thorough defrag to fully process all that's happened. I'm just glad Side Burn called it in before Sky-Byte could hurt Wedge."
"Yeah, we were real fortunate there."
Fortunate...
This far from civilization, the word hung in the deafening silence, bearing down on the Autobot like a leadened shawl. His brothers thought he was lucky; he certainly didn't feel that way. Worn tires raced off asphalt, thumping into wet sand, where they squealed and twisted, trying to maintain enough grip to push forward. Quickly, the dodge viper surrendered to the futility of his actions, transforming and staring out onto his new surroundings. It was a narrow strip of beach, gritty and sifted through with bits of pebbles; two craggy cliff faces encompassing it on the sides, and creating a little box of a window onto the ocean, while the road sat at its rear.
The same beach he'd ran into Sky-Byte twice before...
This time, there was no shark though.
He hadn't thought there would be, but the crushing of his fledgling hope nearly made Side Burn buckle completely. Slowly, the blue mech shambled towards the muted, lapping tide, optics fixated on the inky black waves.
Was Sky-Byte even online after that assault?
Sure, he'd suffered equally as much damage before but the way he'd just flopped over the cliff's edge yesterday... Maybe he'd gone back to the Megastar already, to recover? There was no way the Autobot could verify; the Predacon base moved about often, and had never been traceable by them before.
The water was icy the first moment it lapped against his plating. Hesitating, Side Burn looked down upon his pedes, sensor array buzzing with displeasure as he marveled at his distorted reflection wriggling back at him. This was stupid, a vocalizer whispered in the back of his helm, the temperature was too frigid, Earth's aquatic zones were too vast, and he had no way of contacting or tracking Sky-Byte down. He should just return to base, forget about this whole thing. His brothers would be upset, Optimus would think him just as reckless as Wedge, he had that training session with Ultra Magnus-
The white pede stepped deeper into the waves, drawing the grasping icy liquid further up his leg. Silent, the dodge viper sloshed out into the depths; swallowing terror as he cycled a hasty intake, closed his vents and plunged entirely under the dark ocean's veil. The thin slant of moonlight could not reach under here and as Side Burn floated blindly down to the seabed floor, he pondered on the wisdom of activating his lights.
He needed to find something. He did not want to be found by something.
Fighting every sense that screamed for him to flee, run back to the surface, the blue mech continued his downward descent; pistons and joints clenching and releasing in sporadic bursts. Eventually, he touched the sandy bottom, but the plume of rising grit did nothing to improve his vision or assuage the nightmares hissing in the recesses of his processor.
It felt as if an eternity had passed before he could make that first stumble forward. Arms hugged around his own torso tightly-
-just as they'd done on the hillside, looking down on the dilapidated shrine. The Build Team filled the tiny space, half of them glancing over the cliff edge where Sky-Byte had fallen, while Heavy Load attempted to drag Wedge back to the open bridge portal. The pair were clearly arguing, but the dump truck had the advantage.
Side Burn didn't care.
His tanks churned heavily again, preparing to purge their contents a second time. There was nothing left to eject though, just the nausea that made him gag noisily. A hail came in from his brothers; it was time to return to base. Clumsily, Side Burn bent down to retrieve his blaster, lying at his pedes. He had dropped it immediately after he'd misfired. Wide, thankfully, enough to tear the two mechs apart but not injure them. Astroseconds before the others had arrived, no less.
That crushing, sick-inducing sensation swelled once more. Not in remorse of nearly hurting a comrade, oh no, but because... A fresh memory file replayed: of joyful faces and roaming servos and lip components pressing on blue plating- That. Because of that. How could Wedge kiss the Predacon?
Why did Sky-Byte allow it to happen?!
Why...
Why did he feel so ill to his spark?, the dodge viper mused in grief. Confusion plagued Side Burn. This whole situation had been unexpected, so what had he wanted to see transpire exactly?
Okay, so he knew what he did NOT want to see: Wedge and Sky-Byte. Together. Never again! They just weren't a match of any kind of compatibility! None whatsoever! Wedge was young, and stupid, and full of himself with little reason to be so. And Sky-Byte, why he was old, and a Predacon, who liked to write poems and go swimming and...
And had said he loved Side Burn alone.
Realization finally sunk in, bringing with it a freezing touch that filled his energon lines. Side Burn hugged himself again, overcome with trembles. How was he supposed to remedy this? No ideas were forthcoming and the anxieties suddenly awakened by his inner epiphany were rushing forward, clouding any other thought processes that tried to aid him. He was alone in this self-made suffering, he choked, optics offlining-
-and onlining once more to the sight of a dark, inky world all around him.
What time was it? Had he just been shuffling along all this while, trapped in the playback of his memory archives? Neck cables aching, Side Burn turned his helm about, finding only the impenetrable black on all sides. The coast line was long gone; hardly a flicker of local sea life to be seen. He glanced up next but the view didn't change much. Probable patches of grey that meant the sun was now up, or were indicative that his optics were failing.
As if reminded, system warnings popped to the forefront of his HDU suddenly. The blue mech could neither decipher their messages nor make sense of the warbling alarm muttering under his audio. All Side Burn knew was that he was cold, dreadfully so. It felt as though ice itself sat in his spark chamber, while liquid nitrogen pumped through his lines.
This wasn't safe, he needed to turn back for shore at once, a whispering vocalizer urged. But the Autobot no longer had control of his limbs. There was no way to break his legs free from their aimless stumbling. This was fate.
The darkness was pouring into his processor now, engine clanking weakly in panic as it was quickly overcome. Then, his optics offlined for good.
xxXxXxx
It felt like he was dying.
Side Burn came to, frame thrashing as water spewed from every available orifice. Vents and intakes flapped pitifully as the flow of liquid became a trickle; sealing back up one by one after thorough assessment, leaving only oxygen to cycle through his mouth and to his engine. The metal block itself felt as though it had been violently attacked inside and out, by a wire brush made of smelting scrap. But aside from his rebooting systems and the lingering taste of brine, the worst had to be the cold.
It was just never-ending. Five kliks into consciousness and his nanites still could not emit any heat to combat the fracturing frigidity filling every inch of his frame.
"The ocean is profoundly cold. You would be wise to remember that next time."
Helm snapped towards the speaker, causing a small whimper of pain to escape Side Burn as it pulled hard at his stiff neck cables. He heard movement and groggily onlined his optics again to find Sky-Byte had shuffled closer. A quick scan found that the younger mech was in a cave, alike the one the Predacon had taken him to last time but with notable differences. The first being that this one had a small opening which displayed blue skies past its mouth.
"S'wll d-do...," Side Burn slurred, his own vocalizer having yet to fully reset. He awkwardly pushed himself up to a sitting position, with no help from the shark that watched. Though he did speak again as the Autobot hugged himself.
"...Are you still chilled? What about your core regulator?," Sky-Byte questioned, concern growing in his tone.
The dodge viper wanted to reply but he couldn't stamp down his clattering plating long enough to get his thoughts in order. He acknowledged, belatedly, the sound of shifting parts, before a heavy mass was circling his frame.
"You may feel free to shoot me later, but if your core temperature is not stabilized now, you may suffer complete system shut-down," the shark explained, his fangs at Side Burn's hips and a fin flung over his chestplates. "I'm sorry my Predacon grossness is touching you."
No, not gross, Side Burn wanted to say. Quite the contrary. Sky-Byte's plating was smooth, almost kinda silky, and thrumming with blessed heat. The young mech couldn't begin to describe how divine the temperature pouring from his make-shift fish blanket felt to his trembling frame. Sinking further into the shark's encompassing hold, Side Burn found that a pleasant scent of salt and wind exuded from his rescuer also, matching the vibrant colours of his body. Except, sadly, in the areas where he'd recently been injured.
Wounds that he'd, in part, had caused.
"...I-i'm surprised you're not calling me stupid," the blue mech mumbled, his vocalizer having finally rebooted properly as the kliks wore on.
The Predacon shifted an inch. "Why would I ever do that?"
Side Burn shrugged, leaning a tiny bit against the beast-former. "Everyone else would."
Sky-Byte must have deemed the Autobot warm enough, for he uncurled his tail and fins from around the other's frame, pulling away entirely and transforming on the other side of the cave. Side Burn bit his glossa on mentioning how much he didn't want to lose the shark's heat, especially when he saw the older mech wince in pain at his healing wounds. Instead, the dodge viper drew his legs up to his chestplates, hugging them to stimulate the contact he just lost.
"I might say you were careless, sure, but I don't know the motives behind your nightly sea walk to make any other judgements," the Predacon replied, partially turning towards the Autobot to hand him a canister.
The container was maybe the size of a servo and the viewing window in its side showcased that barely a third of it was filled with energon. Primus, Side Burn thought guiltily, was that all that Sky-Byte had? For how long? Quickly, the younger mech shook his helm in refusal, spark dimming when his response still made the shark's shoulders droop miserably.
"Give yourself a few more kliks, and you'll be able to leave to return home. There's a road a mile up," Sky-Byte was saying, as he headed for the mouth of the cave, "Or you can probably bridge just outside the entrance-"
"W-wait!," Side Burn yelped. He tried to stand up and follow the other, but couldn't manage one step before his legs were giving out underneath him again. He braced for the fall- yet was caught instantly by a thick arm. Cheekplates flushed in embarrassment, the Autobot looked up, not surprised to see Sky-Byte standing at his side. "T-thanks..."
The older mech remained quiet as his companion eased back onto his pedes, one servo on his clawed arm and the other pressed to his chestplates for stability. It was uncomfortably quiet between them and Side Burn didn't want to be the first to pull away, but what to say? How was he going to apologize for the way he'd been so needlessly cruel to the Predacon?
"Side Burn-"
"Just-"
The dodge viper acted.
One moment they were standing by each other's side; next moment, Side Burn had grabbed the back of Sky-Byte's helm, forcing the Predacon to bend forward as he leapt up to seal their mouths together. This was a lot nicer than he'd originally thought it would be, he mused in mild surprise, pressing closer.
The blue mech's contentment came to a halt as, lip components parting against the other's mouth, he realized Sky-Byte wasn't reciprocating. Servos dropped away from the shark's helm, Side Burn leaning back slowly; cringing sharply as he saw the expression of shock and confusion on the beast-former's face.
"I-i, uh, g-guess I'm a b-bit too late to re-respond, huh?," the dodge viper chuckled forcefully, spark sinking to the bottom of its chamber as he forced a crooked grin to his face. "We-well, I-i'll just l-let you go o-on the-"
Long fingers caught his chin, yanking Side Burn up as lip components slammed against his own; the sensation of fangs brushing along his mouth causing him to gasp, a heavy glossa taking the chance to plunder inside and ravage his oral cavity. Smaller servos smacked along the broad shoulders, climbing up and around the Predacon's neck while giant claws forced him to line up seamlessly against their owner. He almost didn't notice the servo leave his helm and slide sensuously down his frame, until the Autobot was yanking his helm back, intakes ragged as his recently drowned systems found the lip-lock too taxing.
Sky-Byte didn't seem to mind. "My lovely seaglass," he rumbled possessively, mouth dropping to tender neck cables, that brazen servo stroking under his hip panels and squeezing.
Side Burn jerked up into the shark reflexively, unable to stifle the little moan that escaped. His sensory grid was coming to life in electric bursts all over his frame; where once he was freezing, his core temperature now skyrocketed to molten levels, particularly when those pointed denta nipped at delicate wires. Sky-Byte was more powerful and careful than the dodge viper thought possible. It was almost intoxicating to be at the mercy of the Predacon's control.
Pressing harder back into the other's assault, Side Burn was ready to surrender to the shark's focused siege- until his commlink began to chirp incessantly. "Frag it all!," the Autobot cursed, dismissing the call.
A second one came in only astroseconds after, ruining the mood completely despite him also rejecting the connection.
"...perhaps you should return home now," Sky-Byte said, drawing back as a third comm rang through.
"But-" Side Burn looked up at the taller mech, feeling just as upset as the shark did miserable. Slag his waterlogged internals and the untimely resetting of his comm systems! He didn't want to leave, but he knew it would be suspicious if he didn't head back to base. Especially after sneaking out on the eve of Wedge's own reckless behavior.
"Here!," the dodge viper exclaimed, ejecting a tiny, digital card from his wrist. He grabbed Sky-Byte's one good servo, pressing the delicate square into his palm. "My private frequency. I, I want to do this again. Longer, next time! U-um, o-okay?"
The Predacon's bewildered expression morphed to one of pure joy. "Oh, yes! Of course, my lil' monsoon, anytime!," he returned, ecstatic. "I long for our next tryst already!"
Side Burn couldn't help but to smile along too, feeling especially buoyant as he kissed the Predacon one last time; heading out of the cave, alone, and carefully traversing the uneven rock bank back to the nearby shore.
C.M.D: Oh, look at that! They actually are making progress now lol ...but for how long~?
Be kind; give me your mind~ REVIEW, please?