Chapter 17 ~ "Nighttime Terrors"

That night, the cold weather was howling, hailstones were pounding against the metal of the ship but not hard enough to make any damage. The small, curled up form of RaiRyu shook with every bang, flinching and whimpering. He was making small noises, garbled words and moving around; his mind would just not let him rest...

He felt the cold, the darkness, the piercing hard stare of those red optics looking down on his bounded form. He was chained by the arms on a berth that was covered in old rags, dirty and grimey cloths. His legs were free for movement, however that just seemed to make things worse; Darius stroked RaiRyu's face with the back of his hand, RaiRyu growled and sent out a spark to scare him away.

Darius flinched back and chuckled, "Oh...such a FireFly..." his large form crawled over and stood over RaiRyu, letting his finger trace the exposed form of the Yuusha's body. "So small and so fresh...your body is perfect for a good picking..." Darius leaned down and bit RaiRyu's neck; the yellow bot shuttered and struggled, feeling his teeth and his tongue against him.

"Get...off..." RaiRyu growled.

Darius bit down hard on RaiRyu's neck and the smaller bot let out a cry of pain, "You are in no position to give me orders my little FireFly..." he snaked his hand down to the yellow bots interface, groping it. He watched as RaiRyu struggled, whimpering as tears were brimming his optics, Darius grinned, "That's it... let out your cry..." he licked his chest and sunk down to RaiRyu's interface

"My little FireFly..." with that, Darius lifted RaiRyu's legs above his head and removed his own codpiece. Screams were heard echoing through out the hall, the ever growing vision of Darius' face was smiling, grinning, laughing at the smaller bots pain, he could feel his own spark burst inside his chest...

RaiRyu shot up from his berth, panting and whimpering, he shook violently against the pad of his berth. He looked around, only to find that he was in his quarters, he breathed and sobbed silently; he had to hide, he couldn't escape the effect of Darius, his horrifying stare. That's when RaiRyu stood up from his berth, and silently made his way out of the room and down the hall, down in the elevator, to the lowest point where he could hide.

He came upon the Engine Room, where the generators and the Engine itself made their work possible. He opened the door slowly, popping his head in and spotting no danger in sight, he shivered and hid behind a large generator, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them. "No one can find me... I... have to stay away... far away..." his optics were flickering, his mind was slipping into a void of shock.

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VolFogg almost jumped right out of his armor, having been awakened by Rai coming out of the nightmare. The two GunMachines actually fell off the bunk, letting out squawks of surprise. The purple mech remained still for a moment, and then headed over to check on RaiRyu, stopping when he realized that the yellow mech wasn't in his room. Walking over to Prime's room, he rapped sharply on the door.

Optimus snorted and sat up. Rubbing his optic he opened the door, expecting RaiRyu, but a getting a purple bot instead. He frowned. "What's the matter?"

"RaiRyu had a nightmare," VolFogg informed the older mech bluntly. "I heard him; he woke the twins and I. And now he's not in his room."

"What?" He checked his room. "Get the twins and start searching. He couldn't have gone far." Optimus got on to the lift to make sure their prisoner didn't escape. When he got to the brig and saw that he was out, he quickly started to search the other rooms. Coming upon the engine room he quickly went inside to take a look. He almost left till he saw a flash of yellow. " RaiRyu! "

RaiRyu had jumped and crawled back, "No! Keep... keep away from me!" He dashed for the other side of the room and hid into the small space behind the second generator. The small yellow bot shook, grasping his head and burying it into his tightly clutched legs.

VolFogg darted around Prime. "Rai!" He knelt beside the yellow mech, reaching out to lightly touch his shoulder. "Rai, it's us. You're safe now... no one will hurt you." His voice was as soft and soothing as he could make it as he gently stroked the yellow mech's shoulder. When he looked up at Optimus, pink-red optics were cold and hard, blazing with frozen fire and cold rage. "I don't care how much of a bounty is on Darius's head... When next our paths cross, he dies," the ninja announced flatly.

"I was just thinking the same thing," he got down carefully so not to scare Rai, touched his hand and let his spark start to hum. It soothed the little mech somewhat so Optimus could pick him up, "It's okay, I got you…"

RaiRyu shivered, his head laying against Prime's chest hearing his slow and steady spark beat. He curled up and whimpered, "I... want it to stop..." he sobbed, "I want all of this to stop...." He felt powerful arms embrace him tightly, trying to protect him from the world.

VolFogg continued to stroke RaiRyu around Prime. "It will stop... but that will take time and effort. You must be strong; otherwise you will break, and probably drag Fuu down with you. Trust us, Rai... we will help."

Prime nodded to VolFogg, "Not what I had in mind…" he said flatly, "But okay…"

"Few things get through to a twin so well as the fact that they're bound to their brothers... So aim that swat somewhere else." VolFogg trotted after the larger mech, watching Prime carrying RaiRyu back to his room. The ninja mech watched a moment longer, then returned to his own quarters. Two pairs of green optics fixed on him immediately, and he walked over to join them.

RaiRyu smile a little and laid his head against the blue and silver chest. He felt Prime carry him back to his room; FuuRyu had practically tackled the two when he came back with RaiRyu.

The smaller yellow Yuusha's optics were dimming, his face growing warm when feeling his twin next to him and the warm embrace from his guardian. He felt safe, secured, everything was all right around him, at least for the moment. With one last yawn, he snuggled against his twin who snuggled him back and they boy laid against Prime's chest, falling into a deep recharge.