A/N: I have no idea of where the last third of the chapter came from but Will and Ratchet turned out to be chatty this time around, so there we go. Thank you to my beloved beta for not groaning at getting 6k words dumped on her for a read-through *cough*
He could feel Ironhide in the back of his mind. It wasn't the result of an actual scan, not something his processors had done on routine, but rather a strange way his spark simply knew where Ironhide was in a way it hadn't before. He would be able to pick up the mech's emotions if he didn't shield them, he knew, would be able to talk across the bond with half-words and half-thoughts, but the ability to pick out his location on the island was something new and interesting and Will was never, ever going to admit that half of his current air acrobatics were aimed solely at seeing how that knowledge of Ironhide's presence responded as he moved.
Half an hour and several death-defying turns later, he came to the conclusion that it didn't respond at all. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he pushed himself, it was still there, still constant, still adjusting instantly as either of them moved. He had wondered for a moment just how badly it was going to frag up his focus when the two of them ended up in the middle of a combat situation, but another fifteen minutes of copying every single way of shielding a bond that he had learned about in the past few weeks had finally managed to mute that presence almost completely. It came right back the moment he lost focus, of course, but it still meant that it was possible to block and that was one problem less to deal with.
He had almost contacted Ironhide to ask him about it but had changed his mind and kept their bond shielded at the last moment. Neither Ironhide nor Ratchet had ever mentioned it, which meant that it was probably a Seeker thing... and Ratchet had never said if he'd had anything more than casual relationships with those things.
William Lennox still figured the Seeker companion in his processors had the brains and daunting self-restraint of a pigeon for the most part but it was still a Seeker... and since this was Seeker business, it also meant it was only reasonable to ask it about the whole thing. If nothing else, Will decided, it was a nice little sign of cooperation before he headed off to ask Ratchet instead.
So? he asked and tempered the word with the curiosity that he didn't even try to hide.
They turned to follow the edge of Diego Garcia's airspace in a lazy arch, still with the curious knowledge of Ironhide's presence, and he got the mental feeling of a shrug from his companion-in-processors.
Mine, it replied like it was the most logical thing in the world. Ours. Mate. We shield. Mates protect.
And protecting your mate was a whole lot easier when you knew where said mate was even if someone decided to fry your gear with an EMP... even if he got the clear impression that those kinds of situations weren't all the Seeker had in mind.
You can't go shoot someone just because they like someone you want, he said, exasperated, and the Seeker offered a clear feeling of annoyance in return.
Mate. Mine.
A sharp turn, the Seeker making its annoyance clear, or Will doing it, and neither was really sure anymore-
We had a make-out session! It wasn't a fragging marriage proposal!
- and every time he finally thought the whole thing was starting to make sense, something else showed up to remind him that whatever else the Seeker might be, 'smart' and 'reasonable' weren't high on the list.
"Fragging bird-brain," he bit out and didn't realise that his more or less permanent communications channel with Ratchet – for reasons of likely future stupidity, the medic had explained – was active until the mech actually responded.
"Is there a problem?"
He was halfway tempted to say something not very polite about the other half of his schizophrenic processors, because they really didn't think he was unreliable enough as it was, did they, but he settled for a sigh instead.
"Seeker issues. Minor stuff, it's nothing. Sorry for disturbing you, sir."
He almost expected Ratchet to press the issue but the medic apparently saw it as his duty to keep Will on his toes because he changed the topic easily and let Will have his bitchings to himself.
"You didn't. I was about to contact you myself to see how you were doing after your...playtime with Ironhide," the medic explained dryly. "The world can look very different once the post-overload haze wears off... even if there was never an overload involved in the first place. How are you handling it, Will?"
How was he handling it? Will paused and realised with some surprise that he hadn't even considered that question until Ratchet brought it up. True, the pleasurable haze had faded a while back, but...
"I'm not going to freak out, if that's what you're asking," Will responded cautiously. "It was me as much as the Seeker out there with 'Hide. I could have said no if I didn't want it and I would have, too, if that had been the case. I had fun, Ratchet. I wouldn't mind having fun again. It's weird from a human perspective and I'm sure I'd be freaking out if I didn't have bird-brain in my processors, too, but it's not like 'Hide threw me on the ground to have his way with me. I'm dealing with it. I'm enjoying myself. The Seeker might've decided one make-out session makes a mate but that doesn't mean I just have to go along with that, either. You put the fear of Primus into it. We're getting along a lot better than I ever thought we would."
"And how do you feel about him, then?" Ratchet asked and Will got the sudden and very, very unwanted mental image of a robot Dr. Phil. Then again, given what sort of mechs that made up Optimus Prime's first contact team... a robot shrink would probably be pretty high on the wishlist. And Ratchet had probably learned the hard way, too, that sometimes people and problems were just easier dealt with before they became a real headache.
There was sky and there was water and there was island and Will settled for a mostly-even course to focus a little more on Ratchet.
"He's my friend. He's a giant robot, Ratchet. What do you want me to say? I admire him for the sort of things he's gone through and survived. I admire him for the fact that he's still sane and able to function with the rest of you after that long on the front lines. He's got my back in battle and I've got his. He's attractive to a Seeker, he's interesting to me, and I liked playing rough with him on the tarmac a lot more than I probably should, considering that I'm still technically married. I know it's how things are and I know it's probably the Seeker affecting me some of the time to help me deal with it all, but that's okay, too. He's a friend, Ratchet. He's attractive. It doesn't mean I'm going to show up with an uprooted rosebush to tell him I love him."
"Rosebush aside," Ratchet pointed out, "that might not be your fault, and it's very likely that might never change. Things are... different to Seekers in quite a few ways."
A flicker of something from the Seeker – guilt, agreement, indifference, but no objection at all, and if he had still been human, his eyes would have narrowed.
"In English, Ratchet. Preferable in nice little one-syllable words this grunt can understand."
A slight adjustment of the course, following air-currents in a way that was second nature by now, and he could almost hear the medic wonder how to approach the subject... and the longer he waited, the more Will could feel himself tense, waiting for whatever bad news that was about to be dropped on him.
"Cybertronian was the main language spoken on Cybertron," Ratchet finally began, and damn it if he didn't sound vaguely cautious and it only served to confirm Will's worry. "We switch between Cybertronian and Earth languages on this planet – Cybertronian and English for the most part – but the human part of your processors instantly translates that Cybertronian into English, with English idioms and English counterparts to Cybertronian words whenever possible. We have dialects, of course – the Decepticon and Autobot dialects have subtle but important differences – but for the most part, all of us spoke Cybertronian as our main language. Seekers, the exception to the rule, spoke it as their second one. They had their own language which they all but stopped using as the War claimed an ever-increasing number of lives. Stopped using it, Will. It didn't die. That language is a part of Seeker programming, of your very personality, and if you encountered it or thought about it, you will understand enough to make some sense of it... with some exceptions. There were a lot of cultural aspects to the words that only came from experience with their world and that experience, I'm afraid, is something neither you nor that Seeker has. The language itself is programmed but the cultural aspect was learned, and there are precious few left to learn it from these days."
A curious thought directed at the Seeker in his mind and strange symbols flashed through his processors and became knowledge a moment later; alien and unnerving and comforting and still strangely familiar in a way that sent a shiver through his mind.
"It's more than a language, isn't it?"
"It is part of a Seeker's personality. It is who you are, Will. The language of Seekers shares no similarities with Cybertronian and reflects the differences between those two kinds of beings as well. Cybertronian has terms your human mind would translate as 'love'. The Seekers' language doesn't. Seeker programming does not comprehend love as a human or Cybertronian might express it so their language has no term for it. You may speak Cybertronian but your core programming is that of a Seeker, with a Seeker's world-view, and that will carry over in your Cybertronian as well. Your human brain might comprehend human love but your Seeker one won't – and your Seeker one, I suspect, is the one that carries the most of your attraction to Ironhide."
"So even if I showed up with a rosebush, I wouldn't be able to claim I loved him... because I'm not programmed with the right word for that?" Because Seekers didn't know the concept? Because they were too selfish, too dominant, too possessive, too brutal, too- "I assume there's a reason for that?" Will continued, as calmly and quietly as he could as he pushed that train of thought aside. "I love Sarah. I love Annabelle. A new language won't change that."
"And it shouldn't," Ratchet agreed, just as calmly and quietly. "There is no Seeker word for the human or Cybertronian concept of love, but they have other concepts that express the importance of someone with all the more intensity. Ask your flighty companion to define Annabelle to you."
The human part bristled for a moment at that – like he needed to define what his daughter was! - and then it calmed down again as he forced that thought aside, let sub-routines handle their flight, and focused on the Seeker instead.
Hesitation, curiosity, flickering through memories that even Will had forgotten he had; idle thoughts as he watched a photo of his daughter, laughter and baby clothes and fear and the fierce determination to protect her from anything, and-
Kin, the Seeker said with finality and let the strange symbol impress itself on his processors even as his mind translated the equally strange and eerily familiar sound that accompanied it.
"Kin," he repeated softly and heard the Seeker echo the word through the communications channel. "She's kin."
"In that exact tone of voice? Then that is all any Seeker would need to know," Ratchet replied. "There are very few shades of grey in their world, Will. Most things to them are black or white, trusted or untrusted, friend or foe. Kin is broad concept – you care about all of your kin to some degree, but the way you say it makes all the difference in the world to them. Your voice, the movements of your wings, your actions, the emotions across a bond. Kin as you just spoke it would be all one of their kind – your kind – would need to hear to understand the depth of your feelings for her. It marks her as one of your family, whatever her species or origin or loyalty. It would tell any Seeker listening that you would kill for her, die for her, and tear planets apart if even a thought of harm would ever cross her shadow. She is not a mate or bonded but related to you through choice and heritage and that makes her a part of your being."
The channel fell silent as Will considered that and the Seeker waited just as silently for his reaction, and Will could find nothing to argue about in it. He didn't like the language – it was entirely alien to his human mind and the way that part of it still rang so true was more than a bit unnerving – but he could deal with that, too, and he could appreciate the depth of the Seeker's emotions for his daughter even if the term it used was less than impressive to human ears.
And Sarah? he asked silently and this time the pause was a lot longer and it wasn't just the flickers of memories, either. Uncertain, bewildered, hesitant, and then-
Mate, it finally responded slowly and then again with more conviction. Mate. Mine. Ours.
"Will?" Ratchet's voice tore Will back to reality before he got the chance to poke the Seeker about its reaction and he heard the unspoken question clearly.
"Mate. It called Sarah mate."
Sudden, sharp emotions – not his, not the Seeker's, faint but there – and then they were gone and Ratchet snapped out a sharp, angry "No!" before he descended into a rapid-fire rant in that distinctive Seeker language that Will only caught fragments of, in between the medic's accent and the Seeker's sudden anger and his own unfamiliarity with it all.
"-organic--- irresponsible pest of--- no right of claim, you ground-bound spawn of a--- shared-spark, and this is not-"
"Mine," the Seeker snarled back through Will's voice – and Primus, he had forgotten how horrifying it felt to have it take over and hear himself and have no control of what happened – and then the feeling was gone as the Seeker retreated to sulk and Ratchet fired off one last incomprehensible sound that probably wasn't a compliment.
Tense silence followed as neither seemed willing to say a word to the third party in their little argument, and then Will sighed even as he adjusted their course to swing back towards the island base again.
"Ratchet?"
The Seeker was still sulking in the back of his mind but the medic seemed ready to talk, at least, as he sighed and gave Will the clear impression that if he had been human, he would have rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I keep forgetting how much of a pain in the afterburner young Seekers can be. A linguistic lesson, Will: Seekers have fundamentally three terms for beings that are important to them – kin, bonded, and mate. You know the language but you don't have the cultural experience to understand the words right and it's too basic a part of your companion there for it to be very likely to explain what little it does know properly to you. You are already familiar with kin. To call a mech your bonded would mean that it was someone you had a bond with – Ironhide, for example, in your case. Bonded does not necessarily imply anything more than friendship. It can be between brothers in arms as easily as it can be between lovers. With other species, the definition becomes even broader – Samuel and Bumblebee are not able to talk through a bond the way you do with Ironhide but any Seeker would consider them bonded, anyway. Samuel is Bumblebee's human bonded, much in the way Sarah is yours."
"Except it didn't call Sarah its bonded," Will pointed out and ignored the brief flare of anger from the bird-brain in question. "It called her mate."
"Which would imply what humans would refer to as... as romantic relations." Ratchet made a frustrated sound and continued before Will had the chance to even think about that one, and the Seeker snarled right back at him mentally. "Even ignoring the sheer physical impossibility of it all, Seekers are possessive. No Seeker would permit a pitiful inferior to ever touch one of its mates and every single human being on this entire planet would fall into that category! You can't claim her as a mate, you worthless piece of scrap – you cannot possibly feel it's fair to her to expect her to have no non-platonic human relationships again for the rest of her existence, under the likely penalty of death to her suitor. That is not how Earth relationships work!"
If he hadn't already been questioning his sanity, being chewed out by proxy for something the voice in his head had said would definitely have made him start doing it. As it was, he simply directed a bemused feeling in the direction of the Seeker and kept from snorting at the snarl it offered it return.
"It's ignoring you now," he informed Ratchet.
"Seekers!" The medic made the word sound like an insult and Will couldn't really argue with that. The thing meant it well, he could feel that much. It liked Sarah, it cared for her, it would protect her, but he couldn't exactly expect her to put up with their bizarre new situation for the rest of her life, and that wasn't even getting into the fact that the thing left no doubt at all that any human male who as much as dared to approach her would face the wrath of a territorial bird-brain with enough weapons to make a minor army think twice about attacking.
"Can't we... I mean, it had its sight set on Optimus for a mate, too, but we managed to reach a compromise. If not..." He paused and sighed. "Its sense of time isn't exactly Earth-based. If she moved away, too far away for any casual visits, it wouldn't bother her that much. It would show up sometimes but maybe only every decade or so. It doesn't think about how fast humans age. If she was somewhere away from it and didn't get into any trouble, it would go on with its own business and only show up to see her when it remembered. She could make it work. It'd be a lot easier if the Seeker hadn't gotten involved in the first place, but..."
"But we can't change that," Ratchet agreed and sighed as well. "It is an option but I would rather it didn't come to that. Talk to it, try to make it see sense. Seekers are rather stubborn once they have made their choices but it is not impossible to make them reconsider."
By force if necessary, Ratchet didn't need to add, because Will knew that perfectly fine. Sure, Megatron clearly had some problems keeping Starscream in line, even with those methods, but his Seeker wasn't-
Aw, slag, he realised a moment later as memories flooded back, a talk with Ironhide and comments about the Air Commander, and the Seeker in the back of his mind stayed uncomfortably silent about it all.
"Can they change their minds about kin, too?" Because he wasn't enough of a flying disaster zone as it was, was he, and slag it. "The Seeker called him kin," Will continued with a groan. "It was after the first time we talked with him. It didn't sound like it did with Annabelle but it still sounded kind of serious. I didn't know what it meant at the time, just that it was annoyed when 'Hide made some choice comments about Starscream. Frag it all to the Pit."
He had halfway expected Ratchet to order him on the ground immediately but all he got was a second of silence before the medic continued in a perfectly calm voice that made Will desperately wish he had a visual and body language to go with the audio. "And the second time you talked with him? You did insult him a few times yourself on that occasion."
Will considered it for a moment and ignored the uneasy feelings from the Seeker at that line of questioning. "It was shocked more than anything but it backed me once we decided that this was where we belonged and he could go frag himself."
"You should be fine, then." There wasn't even a bit of hesitation in Ratchet's voice and Will blinked. "No, we won't ground you. I know you were about to ask. It is programming, nothing more. Starscream is the Air Commander. Opposite factions or not, he is in theory the commander of all Seekers, not merely the Decepticon ones. It is part of any Seeker's programming to consider the leader of the first-among-trines their kin and submit to his orders. It becomes easier to ignore with age but it will always be part of your programming. How do you think Megatron managed to turn the vast majority of them to his cause?"
"Because they're arrogant, self-absorbed, and violent?" Will guessed. "They're pretty much a flying list of Decepticon virtues."
"So were the Autobot Seekers for the most part," Ratchet replied. "And there were Autobot commanders who would gladly have accommodated those Decepticon traits. The ones you have met are the survivors, Will. They have lasted through near-endless war. The weaker ones died and the stronger ones adapted. There were different levels of Decepticon-like behaviour in them before the war. They had different personalities, like we all do. If they had all made an independent choice, we would still not have had the same number of them as Megatron but he would still have had less of an overwhelming advantage. He used those lines of kinship. He won over the key figures among the Seekers and the rest followed. When he claimed the loyalty of the first-among-trines, he also gained the vast majority of the ones that considered that trine to be kin or mates or bonded... and with them followed their kin and mates and bonded, line after line, until he had their complete loyalty. The step from neutral to Decepticon like the rest of your kin is a lot easier to take than from neutral or Decepticon and to Autobot when you leave everyone you care about behind."
Will blinked. The words made perfect sense in his processors, an utterly perfect rightness to them – they were kin and you were loyal to kin – and the Seeker part of him murmured its silent agreement.
"So the Autobot Seekers..." He trailed off, not sure how to put it, but Ratchet clearly saw where his train of thought was heading.
"... Were the more unusual ones of the breed, yes," the medic agreed. "Some had very little kin that mattered. Some were mated to a ground-bound mech that had allied itself with the Autobot cause. Some felt more strongly about the cause than about Seeker ties. You have strong ties to us as well as to your human family and friends. In this case, far stronger than the Seeker programming that deals with Starscream. You are not a true Seeker, Will. Yes, your programming tells you to be loyal to your true kin, to fight for them and protect them if needed, but the human side has something to say as well. Annabelle is considered kin by both of you. Starscream is considered kin solely by your basic Seeker programming, and distant kin at that. I would doubt that the Seeker part of you would readily submit to him after your show of defiance."
It should have been comforting but there was something in the words that kept eluding Will, something that nagged at the edge of his awareness even as he spared as much attention as he could from flying, something that-
Submit, he realised. He didn't say we wouldn't have a problem fighting the fragger. He said that he doubted we would readily submit.
"There's a long way from not submitting and to actively fighting, Ratchet," he pointed out. "If we went up against them tomorrow, would I be able to fire at them? Physically attack them?"
"You would have to overcome that part of your programming the first time," Ratchet replied, "but it would become easier every time. In a combat situation, it would not take long to be able to do without interference from those lines of code that claim them as kin."
Not as good as Will had hoped for but a lot better than it could have been, at least, and he didn't want to ask his second question but he needed to know, and he needed to know before it was a life and death situation.
"Would I be able to kill them?"
This time it took a moment longer for the medic to answer and Will could slagging well recognise a diversion when he saw it. "You would need far more training to hold your own against-"
"That wasn't what I asked and you know it," he interrupted quietly. "Would I be able to kill them, Ratchet? Would I be able to pull the trigger at point blank?"
And the beat of silence gave him all the response he needed, even as Ratchet spoke that moment later.
"To protect a mate or bonded or close kin," he said and confirmed the sinking feeling in Will's processors. "You couldn't do it unprovoked. Thundercracker or Skywarp, yes, perhaps, but not Starscream. You are not a real Seeker, so there will always be that element of uncertainty, but you have too much Seeker programming to make it much more than a theoretic uncertainty. You could fight back in a combat situation, yes. Cover fire? Self-defence? Yes. Deliberately shoot to kill? No. In a hundred battles, in a thousand... perhaps, but not now."
Slag.
The world spun; real or imagined, it didn't matter, and engines roared as he focused the flood of emotions on flying, fear and anger and dread and blind panic turned into heat turned into energy turned into flight-
- And Ratchet stayed silent as Will sent them into a dizzying plunge, nearly striking sea before he turned and spun and headed straight up, nothing more than a blurry grey arrow to the people watching below as Mach one turned to Mach two and inched further upwards.
Seconds stretched to a minute, then two, and finally he broke the silence.
"When did you plan to tell me?"
"As late as I possibly could," Ratchet answered and they both knew he wasn't just talking about Starscream. "Be honest to yourself, William. If I had told you this – all of it – when you had first woken up, you would have done your best to offline yourself. That or defected when the Seeker panicked enough to take over and seek Starscream's aid."
There was no reason to argue because Will knew damn well there was nothing to argue against. Waking up in an alien body and being told that you weren't human anymore, that the odds were you would defect and turn 'Con, that even as an Autobot you would be as much of a danger to your allies as to your enemies, that any moment of weakness could bring you to your knees at Starscream's feet-
He cut his engines and turned in free-fall and the flare of panic from the Seeker was pushed aside as the world shifted around them and then became the spinning blue and green and white of Diego Garcia and the Indian Ocean as they shot straight down.
"What's to stop me from trying now?" Will bit out as mental calculations fluttered through his processors – Mach one, Mach two, Mach--- "Even you can't fix what's left after an impact at Mach three."
"I can't," Ratchet admitted quietly, "but you won't. You will pull up because that Seeker is innocent. Whatever else you might be, William Lennox, a cold-blooded murderer is not it, and that Seeker you share your processors with was never given a choice in this matter. You will pull up because your bond with Ironhide is too strong to break without consequences and because you will not abandon your wife when she still loves you. You are too much of a Seeker now, William... or perhaps just enough. When you first woke up, we had no way to know for certain how much Seeker programming you had been given. To explain those possibilities to you would have sent you into panic at best, and over something that might not ever have come to pass. Now you adjust instead, because you have enough of the Seeker's traits in you to handle this with a somewhat level head. Perhaps not gracefully, perhaps not willing, but you will not offline yourself. You think too clearly for that, even now."
The world spun; blue and green and white, and with a sickening lurch twin engines kicked in again and turned the view from sea and to sky again and he tried not to notice the almost panicked relief of the Seeker in his mind.
I'm sorry, he whispered and meant it.
Trine-mates, it murmured in response and fell silent again in the back of his processors and he was surprised to find that he understood. You trusted trine-mates and you were loyal to trine-mates. Come what may, you were loyal to trine-mates – into battle, into war, and into the Pit itself if needed.
"What else did you forget to tell us?" he asked quietly as his course levelled out again and the surge of emotions in his systems evened out with it as well.
"Some things that matter. Some things that don't," Ratchet responded just as quietly. "A Seeker would have been raised by Seekers. I understand their language and their culture to a degree but I was always an outsider looking in. I can teach you what I know but I will never have the same understanding of their culture as a born Seeker with Seeker programming, who grew up in their world. Even Megatron's command trine likely doesn't, these days. Seekers are focused on family. They were, essentially, one immense flock of metal birds, connected in trines and kin and mates and bonded. There are, perhaps, a few dozen of them these days. It was never a natural state of the world to them and they all know it, those few remaining ones. They are Seekers but they have been without their large circles of kin since the destruction of Cybertron. They have been without sparklings because war is no place to raise children. They have been without the ability to reach out through their bonds and be surrounded by people they consider family. None of them are sane or stable these days and eventually, in a hundred years or a thousand or ten thousand, that will be your fate as well if your kind remains on the brink of extinction. What is left of their culture is their programming and bits and pieces of what they once were. You will be unable to kill Starscream unprovoked, but that programming goes both ways. All Seekers are kin to their leader in the way he is kin to all of them. Your natural place would be with your kin and until Starscream sees indisputable proof that you are not kept here by force or by manipulation, he will see you as a misguided youngling that needs saved. He always considered most Seekers to be pathetic wastes of resources but he still put them far above mere ground-pounders because even Starscream can't deny his programming completely. He is the supreme Air Commander of all Seekers and until you turn against him, he will see you as kin."
They were silent, Will and the Seeker both, and he couldn't even blame Ratchet for not saying anything about it before. It was too much, too soon, and he had never asked for it. He could have lived the rest of his life perfectly fine without ever knowing any of it and if he ever got his hands on Primus, he would gladly see if the God of the Cybertronians was worth anything in down and dirty black-ops fighting.
Seekers needed family, Seekers needed kin and trusted ones around them, and the slagger had brought them back as one of the last members of a near-extinct species to... what? Repopulate the whole fragging lot of long-dead Cybertron single-handedly, or die in battle, or feel that basic programming tear on them until they went the way of Starscream and Skywarp and Thundercracker – borderline insane and probably aware of it, too, and unable to do a slagging thing about it?
He shuddered, felt the tiny motion from his core and to the very tips of his wings, and then he finally refocused on the still-open communications channel.
"I can't deal with this, Ratchet. It's too much."
"You may not have a choice. The Decepticons are mobilising and they are obvious about it. They wish to make sure we know they will put in their full forces and in return force us to do the same... and in doing so, either leave you undefended here or bring you into battle with us."
"Ratchet..."
"I did not want to tell you now," Ratchet continued. "Perhaps never, but I was not given a choice. You needed to know before you encountered them in person, and you needed time to come to terms with it, too. This is as long as we can afford to wait."
"I need..." he trailed off and fell silent and the soothing murmurs from the Seeker were worried and confused and it took the edge off the sudden panic and that small gesture was a blessing now.
He needed more time, maybe, or more information, or less, and the shudder brushed his wing-tips again and finally Ratchet spoke.
"Fly," he said quietly. "I will be here."
No further words were exchanged but as Mach two edged towards Mach three again and the world became nothing more than speed and cold and the roar of engines, that silent channel stayed open in unspoken support and for now, that was enough.