Day 2
The next morning Orion found himself laying curled up on the ground. That didn't surprise. He tends to move around when he was recharging. What surprised him was how cold it was…Soon Orion's senses came online but even before he onlined his optics he knew he wasn't back in his small apartment in Tagon Heights.
And…
She wasn't in his arms…
But someone was…
Suddenly Orion's optics shot open as he gazed down and was met with the sight of a small yellow youngling who was sleeping peacefully in his arms. Blinking curiously down at the yellow youngling Orion only had one thing in mind.
When did he get there?
Gazing around the dimly lit room for a moment Orion failed to remember where he was. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.
Where was she..?
He was just about to shoot up and let go of said youngling in his arms when suddenly everything came rushing back to him.
The attack…
The crash…
The cave in…
Trapped…
Bumblebee…
Oh yeah… Orion thought as his optics adjusted to the dim light. They were still in the tunnel. For one sweet moment he thought it had all been a dream and he was still in his home…before he had gotten involved with the war and his life was forever scarred.
Slowly Orion gazed down at the youngling in arms, sighing softly. It was Day 2 since the crash and they were still in this Allspark forsaken cave.
"Mornin' kid."
A deep, strangely gently voice spoke from beside him.
Looking up, Orion could see Ironhide's towering figure standing above him, leaning against the train cart. He was facing towards the civilians, those of which already appeared to have awoken and were up and about.
Orion looked at his internal clock and sees that it is well into the morning.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Orion asked as he rubbed his optics, annoyed that the weapon specialist didn't wake him up so he could check on the civilians.
"And ruin that?" Ironhide said teasingly, gesturing towards Orion and Bumblebee who was still recharging in his arms "If I didn't know ya, I'd say he was your kid."
Orion shot a glare towards Ironhide before gently placing Bumblebee on the ground next to him. Moments later Ironhide handed Orion a partly filled Energon cube.
He took gratefully it and nodded a 'thanks'.
Sighing softly Orion took a sip of the Energon as he glanced over at survivors, then towards Bumblebee who was still recharging next to him.
Orion's lip twitched slightly as he gazed down at the little yellow mech sleep.
It had only been a day since the crash and he was already starting to grow on him…
Suddenly the closest thing Orion could do to a smile faded as he turned his gaze away from the mini bot. He was becoming too attached to Bumblebee. This…this wasn't good. He couldn't become attached to Bumblebee. He was…was…
No he couldn't be. He'll be fine, they'll get out in three days tops and they'll all be fine…
Orion sighed softly as he gazed down the armor hiding away his wound beneath.
He…He couldn't tell anyone of this. If anyone cared they would waste their energy worrying about him. Orion needed them to concentrate their energy on surviving, not on his own wellbeing.
And the wound, surely it wasn't as serious as it looked could it?
Besides, what did he know about medical emergencies?
It's probably just a bad dent that will heal on its own. Orion thought. Nothing to worry about.
But still, it didn't give him a good feeling when he thought about it either. He needed to keep hope alive for everyone there; it'd be hard if he kept thinking about this.
Pushing aside his thoughts, Orion gazed shifted across the ten other survivors of the crash. Orion needed them to survive. They had to live.
They had to survive…
The rest of the day had been uneventful for the most part, Orion figured as he went on about his rounds to check up on the civilians and Ratchet. Orion's lip twitched into his infamous half smile as he watched Bumblebee and Sadie run past him.
Despite the terrible situation they were all in, those two still found a way to lighten up everyone's sparks. A few feet away Orion could see Arcee speaking to Tailgate and Ratchet.
For a moment he just stood there, silently pledging that he was going to get every one of them out alive before continuing on with his rounds.
Rounds hadn't taken that long considering everyone was pretty much in the same place, minus the two Decepticons that had been cuffed into one of the spare train carts. Now he was making his way back to his spot against a train cart near Ratchet.
"How is everyone?" Ratchet asked as he gazed up at his friend.
"They're holding up." Orion replied, not looking down at the paralyzed medic. "How about you, Ratchet?"
"Could be better, had a few improvements with the repairs you had done" Ratchet replied smiling flexing his wrist and fingers stiffly but steadily. Orion gazed down surprised to see that his repairs had gotten movement back in his hands.
"Like a natural born medic bot." Ratchet smiled lightly as he gazed up Orion proudly.
"It was nothing, Ratchet. You instructed me through it." Orion shrugged slightly, not really sure why Ratchet was thanking him but accepting the thanks was the least he could do. Ratchet nodded slightly before closing his optics tiredly.
"Don't worry kid, we'll get out of this pit…" Ratchet said, seeming to catch on to Orion's quietness.
"I know Ratchet." Orion replied sighing softly, closing his optics. "I just worry that we won't leave this cave in the way we expectt…" Orion admitted as he leaned his helm against the train cart.
"It's only been about a day Orion. You shouldn't be worrying too much about that just yet." Ratchet replied. Orion was just about to reply when Ironhide let out an aggravated groan.
"Alright! I've had it!" Ironhide announced aloud as everyone gazed up to see what was the matter.
"What is it now Ironhide?" Ratchet huffed out annoyed as he glared up the trigger happy mech. Then again it has been a day; he's probably dying to shoot something…
"I'm bored! I need to do something!" Ironhide complained as he as he started to bang his helm annoyingly against the train cart beside Orion.
"Hide, if you keep doing that, you're going to damage your processor." Arcee scowled as she watched the larger mech bang his head against the cart.
"I fear that damage as already been done" Orion muttered crossing his arms over his chest with his slanted smile on his faceplates. The rest of the bots there stared at Orion in surprise. He just made a witty comment at Ironhide. AT IRONHIDE.
The room erupted in laughter as Ironhide stopped banging his helm against the wall of the train cart and glared at the red and blue soldier.
"Is that so? Then perhaps you won't mind having a spar with a bot that has one too many screws lose?" Ironhide challenged, gazing down at this student.
"I think you just asked for a death wish, Orion" Arcee chuckled as softly at Ironhide's challenge.
"I can hold my own." Orion replied, his slanted smile widening the furthest he could remember how to.
"I take that as your acceptance then?" Ironhide asked, crossing his arms, smirking slightly.
"It just might be." Orion replied, a spar with Ironhide couldn't bring to much harm could it? Besides it seemed like Ironhide was just itching for a fight.
There was just one problem of course.
"Oh no you don't!" growled Ratchet. "I'm not gonna have you two sparring and getting yourselves hurt while we're down here!"
"Relax Hatchet! I'll take it easy on the kid." promised Ironhide with a grin on his faceplates. Ratchet only gave him an unimpressed look before waving him off. "If you two get so much as a scratch on your paint I'll personally dissemble the two of you and put you back together with each other's parts the second we get out of this pit."
Both mechs cringed at the thought. Primus, Ratchet could be so evil.
"Alright, alright! Nothing serious!" promised Ironhide which got a slow nod from Ratchet, giving them the permission to go.
"I put my money on Orion!" Tailgate said as the rest of the civilians began to make bets on either him or Ironhide.
"Go Orion!" Bumblebee cheered as he and Ironhide got into place in the center of the room. Orion's lip twitched at his enthusiasm.
"Rules?" Orion asked as he got into a defensive stance while Ironhide in turn got into a fighting stance.
"You heard the doc bot, nothing serious." said Ironhide.
"This doesn't mean I'll go easy on you, Ironhide." Orion said as the civilians let out a collective 'Oooooooo'.
"Very well." Ironhide said with a smirk.
Ironhide made the first move. Orion waited and listened as he calculated his odds. Ironhide was a skilled fighter, both with a weapon and hand-to-hand, but with his oversized cannons and lack of speed slowing him down gave Orion an advantage. While Orion was not as experienced as Ironhide, he still had knowledge on his side.
As black warrior came at him, with lightning speed Orion had stepped out of the way at the last possible second. It had taken the civilians watching a moment to realize what had just happened.
Ironhide, knowing his student well, anticipated this. He spun around to kick him but Orion evaded his attack by ducting under the arc of his kick. Orion slide past Ironhide and jumped to his feet. Now behind him, he waited for his master to make the next move.
Ironhide spun around and began to unleash as serious of punches, which Orion easily dodged as he stepped backwards, forcing Ironhide to follow in an attempt to land a blow on him.
"Why isn't he doing anything? Why is he just getting out of the way?" asked Sideswipe.
"Wait for it…" Ratchet said, who did not bother opening his optics.
As Ironhide attempted to punch Orion, his fist flew past his helm as his avoided his attack once again. Ironhide noticed a change in Orion's optics, almost as his anticipated his next move. Suddenly without warning Orion grabbed his arm and with all his strength, flipped his entire frame which caused him to land hard on his back.
The civilians watched in stunned shock as Orion stood over his master with a fist outstretched to him.
Orion listened as a the younglings suddenly broke into cheers.
"Traitors…" Ironhide muttered. Suddenly without warning Orion's legs were kicked out from under him, at the same time Ironhide jumped back up to his feet.
"Now this is a fight." he said before Orion jumped out of the way to avoid Ironhide's next attack.
Orion appeared as if he were about to kick Ironhide in the side of his helm. Ironhide prepared to block the attack, but it never came. Orion feinted and punched him in the gut instead, which caused the larger warrior to stumble back a few feet.
Before Ironhide could steady himself, Orion had flipped over him. He had landed on his shoulder and now had him in a head lock.
With a growl, Ironhide grabbed Orion and threw him halfway across the room. Orion slide to a halt and ducted to avoid getting kicked in the chest. He quickly got to his feet and jumped back to avoid another attack.
As Orion jumped back to avoid getting kicked in the helm, he was surprised when Ironhide feinted and punched him in the gut just as he had done before.
It wasn't his sneak attack that shocked Orion; it was the pain that came after Ironhide's servo met his gut, directly over the large dent he had received during the crash.
Orion let out a silent pain filled gasp as he collapsed in agony due to the waves of pain emanating from the wound. Ironhide, believing his comrade had ducted to avoid his next move was about to send a kick to his helm.
Though still in pain, Orion somehow managed to evade the attack and held a servo up in submission.
"Alright! Ironhide…You w-win!" Orion cried out as he gripped the metal over his wound, hissing softly as he waited for the pain to subside.
"Didn't punch ya too hard did I?" Ironhide asked, concerned when his friend stayed doubled over as he walked towards the downed mech. The civilians looked at one another in confusion to what had just occurred. It was clear he had the upper hand so why had he called off the fight?
"What just happened?" Orion could hear Override ask as the civilians began to speak to one another.
"What's going on?" "Orion never quits."
"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry about it." Orion said to Ironhide, getting up, unwrapping his arm from around his waist as he did so. The pain subsided enough so he could stand. He thanked Primus that Ratchet had gone into recharge while they were sparing.
"I'm…going to run my rounds…and it's my turn to keep an optic on the Cons tonight…" Orion said as he turned to walk away.
"Alright then…" Ironhide huffed out as he watched Orion leave. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong as he watched Orion leave before headed over to wake up Ratchet, who had missed the fight.
After checking on the civilians, Orion had gone to the train cart he had chained Barricade and Sunstreaker to. After making sure they were secure, Orion sat at the edge of the door. He made sure no one was looking his way before carefully removing the piece of metal over his wound. He winced slightly as the pain suddenly returned in his wound.
The pain had lingered while he had been walking around but he had managed to hide his discomfort from the others. Orion examined the large dent as his clenched his dentals to ignore the pain. Even in the dim light, Orion could see that it didn't appear as if the spar had done anything to make the wound worse, but it didn't appear to be getting better either.
"That doesn't look too good." A voice behind him said.
Orion immediately let the metal slide back into place before turning to see who had spoken, but the only ones near him were the Decepticons.
"This is none of your concern, Decepticon." Orion stated plainly.
"Never said I was concerned." said Barricade. "You can all die for all I care."
"Ol' Ironhide do that to you?" Sunstreaker asked curiously, reminding Orion that he was still pretty young. "You should probably have that medic take a look at that."
Orion shot him a death glare.
"Just a suggestion."
"If either of you speak of this to anyone, I will personally snuff out your sparks myself." Orion threatened.
If Sunstreaker had been able to move his arms he would have lifted up his arms in defense. Barricade seemed to be unfazed by his threat and waved him off.
For Orion, the rest of the day was uneventful after the uproar involving the spar had died now, other than Bumblebee and Sadie's failed attempts to get him to smile, yup, uneventful.
Orion was now staring at the ceiling as he struggled to go into recharge. Ironhide had relieved him from his shift a few hours ago. During that time Orion had been drifting in and out of sleep. The pain from the dent had been keeping him up. The pain seemed to act up whenever he would nearly fall into recharge.
So here he was, staring up at the ceiling deep in thought. He hadn't had this much free time to think in a while, even during his training. He had always pushed himself to complete whatever task at hand and would busy himself with his training, leaving him little time to think about things other than training.
Only at night he could think. When his frame was sore from a day of training as well as his mind from listening to orders and Dion and Lancer having pointless arguments, he would lie awake for several hours, detached from the war and lost in the vast empty void that was his mind.
Orion would often think of her but the stasis depression had tainted the image of her in his mind and had left him with memories he wished had never happened...
Her cold blank optics staring up at him moments after shehad…
Orion quickly pushed the thought aside. He couldn't think about what happened. Not now, not ever. He let out a shaky sigh before slowly onlining his optics.
After all this time he had everything in his power to forget, but the blasted stasis depression refused to let him forget. Why couldn't he have remembered something he actually wanted to remember?
Orion gazed across the tunnel where several of the civilians were recharging. A soft series of clicks brought him out of his thoughts. The corner of Orion's lip twitched slightly as he gazed down at the small yellow youngling recharging peacefully on his lap.
She would have loved Bumblebee… Orion thought sadly.
She always adored sparklings and younglings and had wished to have her own one day. Sadly it had not been possible due to her illness. Orion dimmed his optics once again and clenched a small pendant tightly in his servo.
She would have been a great mother… Orion thought as he clutched the pendant even tighter, though careful not to crush it in his servo.
She had done nothing wrong to deserve a fate such as her own. Nothing.
Why did Primus torture him like this? Did He intentionally hate him? What had he done to deserve this?
Orion remembered the long days he had while working as a data clerk as well as his part time job as a dock worker.
Ever since the war began, Orion had to quit his job as a data clerk so he could remain a neutral and had been forced to work at the docks full time. On those days where it seemed like work would never end, Orion had longed to be with his mate.
All his life Orion had done everything in his power to make her happy. Even when they had been younglings, he would always try and make her smile. Orion loved her smile and missed her terribly.
It was as if she could make all her troubles disappear every time she looked at him.
She was probably happy, Orion thought, most of the time anyways.
Even on days when her illness became worse, she still found a reason to smile. Orion knew she was always at her happiest whenever he was by her side. He deeply regretted not being with her as much as she liked.
Even in her last dying hour he could not be with her, only watch as she slowly slipped away right before his optics.
Orion punched the ground with the fist holding the pendant in frustration, not caring if anyone would hear the loud bang echo in the tunnel.
He had failed to save her, to help her when she needed him most. She had been his sole purpose for living and he had allowed her to slip away.
Orion leaned his helm back against the train cart. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered to continue living. Then he would always remember why.
Because she would want me to…
She would want him to stay strong and keep fighting.
Orion listened to the soft clicking the youngling on his lap made. He hesitantly placed a servo on his helm and gently began to stroke one of the small yellow antennas. A soft purr escaped the youngling's voice capacitor as he slept. Bumblebee drew closer to his touch and rested his helm on Orion's servo.
The sight of it made Orion's optics widen slightly. What was this feeling in his spark? The usual emptiness was still present as usual but it felt slightly filled, almost as if this youngling had somehow been able to fill the gap in his spark in a short amount of time.
Was this why he suddenly have the need to protect him?
He was so innocent and so young. His caretaker had been killed in the crash and his creators in the war and yet he had not allowed the despair and sorrow to darken his spark. He managed to be the beacon in their time of darkness.
He would die for him, Orion thought without hesitation.
He had a reason for living again. He just wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing…
Something small and wet landed on Bumblebee's plates which caused him to stir and open his optics. He looked up at Orion, who's helm was bowed low, casting a shadow over his dimmed optics.
"You okay, Op?" Bumblebee asked moments later as he groggily gazed up at Orion.
"Did I wake you, young one?" Orion asked, concerned that he had woken the youngling up. The shadow was still casted over his optics. Bumblebee shook his helm.
"I was awake. You okay?" he asked again.
Orion mentally cursed himself for his outburst earlier. He knew Bumblebee must have been awake at the time and there was no doubt he had heard it.
"Everything's fine, go back to sleep." Orion said calmly just as another small and wet drop landed on Bumblebee's helm. He looked up but the room was too dark. All he could see was the dim glow coming from Orion's optics.
Even for a youngling, Bumblebee did not look convinced, Orion thought. Orion signed as dimmed his optics slightly.
"I was just thinking…"
"About what?" Bumblebee asked tiredly as he curled up into a more comfortable position on his lap moments before closing his optics. Orion said nothing and waited until he could hear the soft clicking that told him that the youngling had fallen into recharge once again.
Orion dimmed his optics and leaned back against the train cart before quietly whispering to himself.
"Ariel…her name was Ariel…"
He said before falling into a deep recharge.
That night Orion had dreamed of her again. But as always he could never see her face, not even her optics. He was beginning to fear that he was slowly beginning to forget what Ariel looked like. But he remembered exactly what she looked like.
It just wasn't an image he wanted to remember of her.
Just then another energon tear landed on Bumblebee's helm, even as he recharged, Orion somehow wiped it away.
A/N: possible foreshadow anyone? OMG SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! So there ya have it, chappy trois of Through Dying eyes, again SORRY for the late update but you know the saying, better late than never, eh? I SWEAR I am typing chapter 4 as we speak and I promise I won't have you guys waiting as long as last time.
Lol my sister Razormus Prime came up with Ratchet's evil threat XD
Next chapter the bots are gonna discover something weird in the tunnel *room shakes* let's just say it's not a cyberquake…
You'll also discover something interesting about Override 030
Til then, PEACE!
Oh and Dion is mentioned briefly in this chapter, if you're wondering who Lancer is she's a femme from G1 who was seen in Search for Alpha Trion, she's 'the orange and purple one.' They aren't gonna be mentioned much in this fanfic but later on ;3
Now on to chapter 4!