Love is a Battlefield

Chapter 7

Ricochet sat in the hallway, just outside the Med Bay, leaning against the wall grasping Lightspeed in a firm hug. On the way back to the Ark Hawkeye lost consciousness, nearly died several times, and nearly taking his twin with him. Ricochet tightened her grip on Lightspeed as his frame began graying. Hawkeye was still on death's door. That and Ratchet's swearing, which was heard through the closed doors, wasn't calming her any.

"Come on you two don't die. I don't wanna be left alone." Ricochet said tears streaming from her optics.

Despite his condition, Lightspeed seemed to find the strength to hug Ricochet in return nuzzling her shoulder. She looked down at him noticing that his color was returning back to its normal shade of silver.

"Sis, I think it'll be okay. 'Hawk is weak but I don't think we're in danger of dying anymore." Lightspeed said weakly as he reached up to wipe away her tears.

"Thanks, 'Speedy. I'm relieved to hear that but Hawkeye's gonna be in deep trouble when Ratchet is finished with his repairs." she replied in a slightly angry tone as her tears gradually stopped.

'Hoo boy. I hope she won't be too rough on Hawkeye.' Lightspeed thought hoping Ricochet would calm down before Hawkeye's repairs were completed.

A few hours later, Ratchet stepped out of the Med Bay and spotted Ricochet and Lightspeed recharging in the hallway in the same seated position they were in a few hours ago. Ratchet walked over to them and placed a servo on Ricochet's right shoulder giving her a gentle shake to wake her.

"Huh? Wha...?" Ricochet mumbled as she jerked forward with a start causing Lightspeed to be launched backward landing on his back.

"Ricochet! What's the big idea? Why'd you launch me like that?" Lightspeed yelled as he rose slowly to his pedes.

"It was an accident, 'Speedy. Ratchet startled me awake. Wait..." Ricochet said as she stood and then asked Ratchet "If you're here? Then Hawkeye..."

"Is going to be fine. Though I was worried for awhile." Ratchet said.

"I'd rather not experience near death again. I thought I was a goner." Lightspeed said then asked "So has Hawkeye regained conciousness, Ratchet."

"Yes he has." Ratchet answered.

"Thank Primus! Could you two excuse me? I have to talk to Hawkeye about putting his siblings through such stress." Ricochet said then gently nudged past Ratchet and Lightspeed.

"Oh boy. Hawkeye's in deep trouble now. I think I'll head for the Rec room. See ya later, Ratchet." Lightspeed said as he turned and headed down the hall soon vanishing from sight.

Ratchet decided to let Ricochet handle her brother and passed by them entering his office.

(B)" 'Hawk, Ricochet is pretty angry with you right now. Try not to say anything stupid."(B) Lightspeed said over his twinbond.

(B)"No duh, 'Speedy! Ricochet just came in with a look that could scare Megatron. That and Ratchet went into his office."(B) Hawkeye replied.

(B)"Then let's meet in the Rec room later."(B)

(B)"Sounds good. Talk to you later 'Speedy!"(B) Hawkeye said finishing his conversation with his twin just as Ricochet approached the berth he was laying on.

Ricochet glared at Hawkeye as she crossed her arms then said "You know why I'm angry so don't even bother playing dumb, Hawkeye."

"Yeah, I lost my temper and nearly got myself and our brother killed."

"It's more than that, Hawkeye." she growled. "You know damn well that my mental state hasn't been stable since we left Cybertron no matter how it may seem to everyone else. If something happened to you boys I know I would fall apart." she finished her optics flowing with tears. Then she whirled around and ran out of the Med Bay.

"Ricochet! Wait!" Hawkeye called out as he sat straight up reaching out towards his distressed sister as she ran from the room.

Ricochet didn't stop running until she was outside the Ark. She then sat down on the ledge she stopped on which was near the top of the volcano. Still crying, she looked up at the stars her thoughts drifting back to her former commander.

"I've done my best to continue my life without you but I don't know what to do." she sniffled "And Hawkeye and Lightspeed nearly died today almost leaving me alone."

"Who you talking to?" a voice suddenly asked causing Ricochet to look to her left and saw Swoop standing next to her.

Surprised, Ricochet wiped her optics before she looked Swoop in the optics and said "I was just talking to myself, Swoop was it?"

When Swoop nodded she continued "I was just thinking about the last orders my last commander gave my brothers and I."

"Why you thinking about last leader?" Swoop asked.

"That's a reasonable question. The answer is simple. Commander Novaflare and I were in love and planning to become bondmates. Unfortunately he's no longer alive."

"What happened?" Swoop asked as he sat down next to Ricochet.

'Looks like Swoop is willing to listen to me. I should've talked to someone earlier.' she thought. "Alright Swoop, I'll tell ya what happened."

Flashback- Shortly before Ricochet and her brothers came to Earth

Ricochet, Lightspeed, and Hawkeye entered the hidden headquarters of the Autobot seekers only to find offlined seekers laying all over the floor. After searching the base they found only one survivor, Commander Novaflare. He was red with an orange helm, wings, forearms, servos, and pedes. He had yellow stripes lining the bottom of his wings, lavender cockpit glass, sapphire optics. Unfortunately the flame colored seeker was barely alive the lower half of his body buried under rubble.

Novaflare's optics onlined and he spotted Ricochet, Lightspeed, and Hawkeye as they approached them.

"Ricochet, ...H-Hawkeye, ...Li-Lightspeed .. I-I'm glad t-that the three of you are alr-right." he weakly gasped as Ricochet knelt down on his left side taking his left servo in both her own.

"N-Now l-listen. I d-don't have m-much time left..." he said as tears started flowing from Ricochet's optics. "I-I'm sorry R-Ricochet. Decepticons g-got the drop on us b-before w-we could do anything. S-Since I won't be o-online m-much longer I w-want you three to infiltrate S-Shockwave's T-Tower to use the Space B-Bridge to go t-to E-Earth to join O-Optimus Prime's t-team. I-I only w-wish I could c-continue t-to be with you s-sweetspark." as Novaflare began to turn gray he gasped out "I l-love y-you R-Ricochet..."

A short time later Novaflare offlined. Ricochet held his servo a few moments longer before she led her brothers to Shockwave's Tower.

-End Flashback-

"And then my brothers and I came here." Ricochet said wiping tears from her optics and continued "Thanks for listening, Swoop. I'm getting tired so I'm heading in. Good night." She then stood up and headed inside Swoop going in a short time later.

By morning she was sitting with her brothers as if she was never angry at Hawkeye. Ricochet spent the night, in her quarters, thinking about what to do with herself deciding to move on with her life.

"So Hawkeye, Lightspeed. I was thinking last night and I decided that maybe I should try dating some of the other Autobots."

"Any idea who?" Lightspeed asked since he was strangely not reading the datapad in his subspace.

"Not really." Ricochet replied.

"I'm just glad you're no longer angry with me, Ricochet." Hawkeye said as he stood "Come on, 'Speedy. Let's go for a flight."

Lightspeed stood as well and the brothers headed outside. Ricochet stood up and sat with Beachcomber, Hound, and Trailbreaker enjoying their company. She had a lot to think about regarding whom she would ask out.