Author's Note: Thanks to Lynn Jones (Probably your least favorite answer but you'll have to wait and see) and Riptide2 (You'll find out soon enough) for reviewing the last chapter. I own nothing but Nexia
Strange Fate
Chapter III, Part I
She was waiting for them with the infinite patience she always seemed to possess. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent and shimmered a bit in the thin beam of sunlight that touched her face. Someone had covered her body with a pure white netting and it shifted slightly under the light weight of her breath. There she lingered between life and death. Waiting.
Mirage woke gasping as if he had just run a marathon and soaked in sweat. Jazz was across the room for him, sleeping for once, and Mirage didn't have the heart to wake his older brother. Instead he dressed silently and left the room without looking back. The evening air was cool against his fevered skin and the sky was clear enough to see stars. He wasn't alone outside though. The young Prime stood there with Ironhide as an ever present shadow and a disapproving Ratchet.
Mirage hung back in the shadows as was his habit. For the first time since he and his siblings had joined the Autobots Optimus looked actually annoyed. Mirage was sure the Prime had been annoyed before but he had never let it be shown and somehow it made Soundwave's youngest son feel as if he had walked into a meeting he shouldn't have without his father to smooth things over. "For Primus sake Ratchet it is simply a flesh wound," Optimus said, sounding exasperated.
"For letting your emotions guide you rather than logic," Ratchet snarled. "What happens when you come back from some reckless escapade and I can't fix you?"
"The Autobots cannot afford to lose you," Ironhide added, his voice a low rumble. Optimus turned to glare at his sometimes bodyguard and then paused, turning farther to glance directly at Mirage. The younger man had the same uncomfortable feeling of being caught somewhere he shouldn't have been that he had gotten when he was younger and his father had found him pulled into another of Jazz's pranks.
"Are you going to continue lurking in the shadows or are you going to come out and give us your opinion?" the Prime asked, sounding almost amused. Mirage reluctantly stepped out of the shadows and caught the surprise on the Prime's face before it vanished.
"Who did you expect?" he questioned.
"Your brother," Optimus admitted and Ironhide nodded slightly.
"It would be like Jazz to hang around during something like this," he rumbled.
"Jazz is sleeping," Mirage said. "For once. I thought it best not to wake him. Besides he has a tendency to attack when roused in the middle of the night." Ironhide laughed, Ratchet smirked, and Optimus smiled.
"So what brings you outside then?" the Prime asked. Mirage wordlessly shrugged, keeping his dream to himself. The waryness that had come from growing up as a Decepticon had not fled him as easily as it had Jazz though Jazz mostly hid his caution behind a mask of humor. Optimus didn't press him and for that Mirage was grateful.
"I'll leave you," he said with a slight incline of his head, turning to go.
"You never answered my query," Optimus called after him and Mirage paused, turning back to his leader with an arched eyebrow. "I never took back my question," the Prime said, sounding almost amused again.
"Being guided by emotions instead of logic is likely to get you killed in battle," Mirage said, forcing his face into a blank mask. "Emotions lead to rash attacks and foolish attempts that do far more ill to your side than good."
"See," Ironhide rumbled. "Even the boy agrees with us." Mirage fought down his indignation at being named a child but shoved it down under an icy mask. The Autobot leader was still studying him.
"But?" Optimus questioned after a moment and Mirage sucked in a deep breath. The Prime was perceptive, almost as perceptive as their father but without the advantage of his gift.
"But one who leads without emotions is not loved by those who follow him," Mirage continued. "Sometimes in order to lead one must takes risks that they would not ordinarily do and follow their heart." Then he turned and all but fled, leaving them to continue their argument. As he returned to he and Jazz's quarters he could not shake the feeling that he had stepped out of his place.