The next day...
Wheelie slowly onlined his optics. At the first sight of his surroundings, Wheelie's spark sank. He was back on another examining table of some sort. But when he took another look, he caught a glimpse of the Autobot symbol on the wall. 'Yes!' Wheelie thought. He laid his head back and took in the sudden relief. Finally, Wheelie could offline his optics, and believe he was safe! Since the Revenge of the Fallen in Egypt, Wheelie had always considered home as where ever his Warrior Goddess was. But even without her in sight, for the first time, Wheelie felt totally at home in the Autobots' base. Wheelie rested in the med bay for a few more minutes until a familiar face came in to greet him. Coincidentally, she was just the human he wanted to see. "Warrior Goddess." Wheelie's voice croaked. He hadn't realized just how exhausted he felt until he tried to speak out loud.
"Hey Wheelie." Mikaela replied when she got up on the berth and sat down next to him. "How'ya feeling?"
"Better. And you?"
"A lot better. Ratchet immediately took me into surgery when we got back here. And I mean immediately! Not that I'm complaining or anything. I'd choose Ratchet over any human doctor any day." Mikaela rubbed her casted hand across the bottom of her rib cage. "Still not feeling one hundred percent. But definitely better."
"So when can I see Mayday?" Wheelie asked. Mikaela's smile faded. It was replaced with a worried look. Wheelie didn't understand. "What's wrong?"
"Wheelie, don't you remember?"
"I...guess not. What happened?" Mikaela looked down and sighed. Though he was tired and a bit dizzy, Wheelie sat up and pulled himself up onto her lap. "Tell me." He pleaded.
"I don't know how to tell you this, Wheelie." Mikaela said.
"Just tell me. I can take it." Wheelie waited for her response.
"Do you remember what happened when you first came above ground?" Wheelie thought for a moment.
"There was no sunlight. " He stated. To him, that was a huge let down. He continued to think deeper into his memories. "And we came out of the elevator into pouring down rain. Bumblebee spotted us first. Then everyone else followed. Arcee and Chromia were sent in underground to round up the MONEE humans so they could be brought to justice. And Mayday, Sam, and I were escorted here. Wait where were you?"
"In Ratchet's care. Remember?" Wheelie nodded. "So then what?"
"What do you mean?"
"What else do you remember? What happened next?"
"I don't know."
"C'mon. You've got to remember something else."
"Well..."
(Flashback:)
Wheelie and Mayday snuggled close together in Jolt's back seat. They were told by Optimus Prime to stay close to a medic until they returned to base. Wheelie was surprised at how quickly Optimus Prime accepted Mayday. He knew he would of course, but still. Mayday might have had blue optics, but that was only part of the look. Her spark still gave off the energy pulses that identified her as a Decepticon. Yet Optimus Prime needed no exclamation from Wheelie. He put them both in Jolt's care without question. Wheelie wondered how Optimus Prime knew these things. How did he know she could be trusted? Did he really see that her blue optics were an attempt to change? Did he really know of the kindness in her spark? Of course, Wheelie realized the minute he first looked at Mayday, that she wasn't meant to be a Decepticon. Maybe it was just obvious. Either way, Wheelie had a whole new level of respect for Optimus Prime when he approved of Mayday.
Sam also wanted to watch over Wheelie and Mayday with Jolt. So he rode in the passenger seat next to Jolt's driving holoform. Sam and Jolt carried on their conversation and paid little attention to the drones in the back seat. Of course they weren't ignoring them, and kept an ear and an audio receptor open incase Wheelie or Mayday needed anything. Sam told Jolt about Bumblebee's fear of thunder and that he was probably freaking out in the rain, just waiting for lightning to strike.
"That would explain why Bumblebee is speeding so far ahead. You're probably a lot safer with me than you are with Bumblebee as a driver at the moment." Jolt agreed. "I can imagine, he can't wait to get out of this weather." After that, the conversation lost its humorous tone. It was raining cats and dogs. Bumblebee had every reason to suspect a thunder and lightning storm. 'He must be scared to death.' Sam thought.
"I'm gonna text him. See if I can get him to calm down." Sam said.
"Good luck." Jolt's holoform replied. "Optimus Prime has been trying to reason Bumblebee to slow down to a safer speed for the last five minutes. So far, no such luck."
"Well Bumblebee knows me like no one else does. He'll listen to me."
"As far as I know, Bumblebee's known Optimus Prime his whole life. The fact that Bumblebee's disobeying a direct order from his leader is one thing. Disobeying a life long friend and teacher is another. But if you think you and Bumblebee are that special, by all means, text him." Sam pulled out his phone and started dialing.
How ya doin B?
How do you think I'm doing?
I know, i know. Stupid question.
I can't stand it Sam! I have to get out of this now!
B calm down. Ur not in any danger. Its just rain.
You don't get it! Its just rain now, but that doesn't mean thunder and lightning won't strike!
Ur over reacting B. Just slow down & get a hold o yourself ok?
Don't ever tell me I'm over reacting about this Sam! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! Bumblebee accelerated faster and farther ahead of the others.
Maybe i don't B. But from what i understand, u are afraid of a memory. Not of thunder itself or any loud noise. ITS ALL IN UR HEAD B! & that's no excuse for drivin like a maniac in the rain! U cant act like this whenevr u hear a loud noise or u think ur gonna hear 1!
What do you want me to do? :'(
Learn 2 cope with it. U shouldn't hav 2 b scared. There was a long pause between the next message. When Bumblebee didn't respond, Sam added. Does Prime know?
He was there. Bumblebee texted. 'He was there.' Sam repeated in his head. That was one more clue he had about Bumblebee's traumatic experience.
Was he there 2 help u?
He saved me. 'Okay, now we're getting somewhere.' Sam thought.
Evr thought maybe he could help u cope with the fear?
Optimus doesn't even know the whole truth of what happened. He knows why, but he doesn't understand why.
U could tell him. I bet he would understand. Sam looked up from his cell phone, happy to see that Bumblebee was slowing down. U feeling any better?
Yeah. Thanks Sam. Thanks so much.
Ur welcome. Sam texted. He looked up from his cell phone to see Bumblebee slowing down to Optimus Prime's speed to drive beside him. Jolt watched as well and internally grinned.
"I don't know how you did it kid, but you must have known what you were doing." Jolt told Sam. Sam just smiled. Meanwhile, Wheelie caught the whole text message conversation, and thought for a moment. 'Maybe living with him wouldn't be so bad after all.' Wheelie was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a tight grip on his arm. It was Mayday. Mayday lazily laid her head on Wheelie's shoulder. Her optics seemed scared. Just when Wheelie was about to ask her what was wrong, he felt her head violently vibrating on his shoulder. Like her processor was malfunctioning and struggling to correct itself. Her whole body began to shake. Wheelie felt the metal over Mayday's spark casing. It was heating up. Wheelie panicked.
"JOLT!" Wheelie yelled. Jolt's holoform looked back at Mayday, shaking in Wheelie's arms. In an instant, Jolt was in the back seat examining Mayday. Sam freaked out when he saw the car driver suddenly jump into the back seat!
"JOLT!" Sam screamed. The young man in the back seat didn't even look up at Sam and continued his work.
"No worries Sam. I can multitask." Jolt said. Sam looked at the car's steering wheel, amazed that the car was still driving. Then he remembered. 'Autobot. Duh!' Sam thought. He turned his attention back to Jolt's holoform. He had Mayday's spark casing open and was examining her energon flow. What he found was little white pieces flowing in her energon veins. Jolt was speechless. He'd never seen anything like them in energon. He did his best to drain them from her tanks, but the real problem was the white pieces blocking the energon flow to her processor. Jolt called Ratchet. What ever this was, it was certainly nothing he knew how to treat. Meanwhile, Mayday held onto Wheelie's hand for dear life.
"Wheelie." Mayday said weakly. "I have to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I have to tell you goodbye." Mayday's optics moistened.
"No. You can't say goodbye!" Wheelie begged. "You can't. You won't have to! We're gonna get through this together! Remember? I promised you." Now Wheelie looked like he was the one about to cry.
"You...kept your promise. You saved us. The Autobots saved us. That was all you promised. And I'm...thankful...for that." Mayday laid her head back on his lap as her blue optics began to fade in and out.
"Mayday!" Wheelie shook Mayday's shoulders, trying to keep her online.
"No Wheelie." Mayday moaned and tried to push his hand away. "You have to let me go."
"I can't." Wheelie cried. "I love you." Mayday focused her fading optics.
"I love you too." Mayday whispered. "Forever." Mayday's voice made a choking noise, and then went silent. Her blue optics faded back to their original red, and then flashed back to blue before they went completely dark. Jolt noticed and stopped trying to stabilized Mayday. But Wheelie kept shaking Mayday's shoulders.
"Mayday?" Wheelie cried. "Please don't go!"
(End Flashback:)
Wheelie shook his memories away. He didn't want to think about what happened next. He looked up at Mikaela and understood her sad expression. 'No.' Wheelie thought. He wanted to deny it, but now that he remembered, Mikaela's eyes told him nothing but the truth. He remembered his previous question. 'So when can I see Mayday?'
"Mayday's dead isn't she?" Wheelie stated. He hardly said it in a questionable tone. He didn't need Mikaela's confirming nod to know the answer. Wheelie fell against Mikaela and bawled his optics out in tears. Mikaela tried to comfort him with her hand over his back, but Wheelie cried even harder. When Ratchet came in to check up on him, he saw Wheelie crying and even screaming in Mikaela's arms. Ratchet came to the conclusion that Mikaela told him the truth, and at this point, as a doctor there was no more Ratchet could do for Wheelie. Ratchet entered and exited unnoticed by the two. "WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE?" Wheelie cried out. Mikaela picked him up off her lap and rocked him in her arms.
"Shhh... Wheelie." Mikaela hushed.
"It's not fair." Wheelie whimpered.
"I know. I know." Mikaela tried to lay his head on her shoulder, but Wheelie pushed away from it.
"No. You really don't know." He objected. "Mayday was one of those pure sparks. She was about as perfect as anyone could be. She didn't deserve to die so soon." Wheelie paused before crying out again. "Why did it have to be her?"
"Wheelie, listen to me." She waited for him to give her his full attention. "Mayday offlined, because of a substance MONEE put into her. Jolt said it looked like she drank it, by the way the build up started in her tanks."
"Build up?"
"A build up of tiny white pieces. Ratchet's best guess is that they started out in liquid form and then hardened when they came in contact with her energon. And since they hardened inside her tanks and a Cybertronian is only built to digest liquid, she got no nutritional value out of whatever she was drinking. So she couldn't digest it, and the chemicals it produced in solid form caused the white substance to spread to other parts of her body. This caused fatigue, starvation... It ended when the white pieces blocked off the energon flow to her processor."
"And she just drank something to get those?"
"You had them too. Except they never spread out. The liquid hardened and stayed in your tanks. You were lucky it didn't infect other parts of your body."
"Like Mayday." Wheelie replied bitterly. "Couldn't they have saved her?"
"Wheelie. Almost every moving part of Mayday was being deprived of the proper amount of energon she needed. In her last moments, her processor wasn't getting any. This didn't happen to you because you were immune to the chemical that made the white pieces spread."
"Why was I only immune to it?" Wheelie whined.
"I don't know." Mikaela said. Wheelie couldn't believe that! It was just by chance that Mayday had to die? They could have lived on together. Or even died together. Wheelie knew life was cruel. (Especially as a Decepticon.) When Wheelie switched sides, he didn't expect life and death to get any easier. He honestly didn't think it could get much worse either. But then he met Mayday. Then he experienced friendship, love, sacrifice, heartbreak, and so much more that he couldn't put into words. He never even got to hear her angelic voice sing. Wheelie hit his ultimate low. The despair was unbearable. Wheelie hid his optics away in the embrace of Mikaela's hug. It felt like eternity to them both, but eventually Wheelie was able to cry himself into recharge for the rest of the evening.