"NO!" Ratchet roared as he ran over and immediately looked at the life support machine, fear and horror in his shining optics. A shrill, continuous beeping noise was ringing through the base, making the medic's audio processors hurt, but he wasn't in the mood to care. He could hear footsteps heading towards him – the small pitter-patter of human feet and the large thuds of Cybertronian pedes – but he disregarded them as he pulled Optimus' spark chamber open. He immediately noticed that the spark was small, insignificant, and unable to keep energon flowing through Optimus' body. "SCRAP!" the doctor roared as he grabbed his triage kit and pulled some tools from it, then desperately got to work trying to save the Prime.
It was Alice who came up with a good idea. She watched as Ratchet desperately, futilely, tried to strengthen the Prime's spark, and an idea popped into mind that she prayed would work. "Ratch, you need a car battery!" she exclaimed, and the doctor glanced at her for the briefest of moments, returning to work just as the others ran out; they stopped dead when they noticed the situation. Alice, however, had no time to explain to any of them. Instead she turned to Bumblebee and said, "You're the fastest, yeah?"
Bee nodded and chirped something. Raf nodded and said, "Bee says that he is… and why you want to know."
Alice looked back at Optimus, who Ratchet was still trying to bring back. Then she looked at Bee. "We need to go get a few car batteries. Or Optimus will die." She looked pleadingly at the yellow and black speedster, who seemed miserable hearing her words. "Please."
He beeped something before nodding and transforming into his altmode – a yellow muscle car with black stripes – and opened his door, motioning her to get in. She scrambled in and clicked her seatbelt on as Bee closed the door and screamed off, passing the returning Ultra Magnus as the two departed. The returning lieutenant immediately knew that something had gone wrong, and as he drove in and transformed he saw what the issue was. He didn't say anything, however; there was nothing he could say.
Miko was hugging Bulkhead's head – she was sitting on his shoulder – and was whimpering. Jack and Arcee were looking sombrely at Ratchet and Optimus. Raf was sitting on the couch, just silently moping. Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus shared a look, and Wheeljack's face was filled with sadness and grief.
Vesper was still in stasis, but nobody knew that she was completely aware of the event. In her spark she felt empty, and while she couldn't open her eyes or speak, she still could send her prayers, although she was unknowing of whether they got to Optimus and Ratchet.
Meanwhile Alice and Bee had already gotten to a place where they could buy car batteries, and after much haggling, they managed to get at least three for sixty dollars, which was almost all the money Alice had been carrying on her person. Then, after she struggled and managed to put the three batteries in Bee's back seat, she got back into the front passenger seat and clicked her seatbelt on as Bee screeched away again, desperate to get back to base. Alice didn't wonder why, because she too wanted to return as quickly as possible.
Ratchet was becoming more and more desperate as he worked on. He was finding himself unable to keep Optimus' spark going, and it was shrinking more and more as he worked. "DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!" he roared frantically, and if he was capable of producing tears, they would have been causing his eyesight to blur. Optimus had the hope of all Autobots – no, all of Cybertron – resting on his shoulders, and while it was a heavy burden to carry, Ratchet knew that the Prime he was trying to save was the only one who could carry it. "SCRAP!" the medic screamed as he failed yet again to save Optimus, and then he scowled, "Don't you dare give up, Optimus Prime!"
"Ratchet!" Alice cried as Bumblebee pulled up and she tumbled out. He transformed, and was holding the three batteries in his hands. The medic whipped around as the girl said, "Hook Optimus up to one of these!"
Ratchet knew that he had no choice, so he nodded as Bee set one of the batteries down next to Optimus. Pulling some jumper leads from his subspace, Ratchet immediately hooked the Prime up to the battery, and soon enough Optimus' sparkbeat began to strengthen. This caused a relieved sigh from everyone, and inside of her mind, Vesper felt incredibly grateful that her sparkmate had been saved.
"That was a scare," Jack admitted after Ratchet had stabilised Optimus and had ensured that the jumper leads wouldn't detach. The medic, who was currently cleaning up, nodding in agreement, and then looked over at Vesper.
"I wonder if she could feel that," he mused to himself, not realising that Ultra Magnus had been close enough to hear.
"It is likely," he said just as quietly, and the medic turned to the lieutenant and frowned. "Sparkmates are rumoured to feel what their other half does."
The medic nodded, but said nothing more on the matter. Instead he turned to the children. "Aren't you all up a bit too early?" he asked, and they shook their heads.
"We were, about two hours ago," Raf said, yawning. "But now we should be heading to school." His voice was sleepy, and Ratchet frowned as he noticed that Miko and Jack were in a similar condition; Jack was swaying on his feet as if he was exhausted and Miko was drifting off already. Alice was sitting on the couch, and while she didn't need to go to school, she was still up far too early for Ratchet's liking.
"I do not think that it would be a good idea for you three to go to school," Ultra Magnus said, his voice gentle, and Raf was about to disagree, but the young human never got the chance as he collapsed in exhaustion and fell asleep where he'd fallen. Bee walked over, chirped something, and picked his charge up. Jack was a little stronger and managed to keep his eyes open until he sat down against the wall, and soon enough he had nodded off. Miko had already drifted off to sleep, and for her it was just a matter of making sure she didn't fall off of Bulkhead's shoulder.
Ratchet scratched his chin. "They're exhausted already?" he asked. "The day's barely started…"
"They must have been extremely worried for Optimus," Arcee mused as she looked over at her charge. "Perhaps we should call June."
Bulkhead frowned. "But then we'd have to call Miko's host parents and Raf's mum," he said, and everyone instantly realised the predicament they were in. The bots shared a look, all with identical expressions on their faces, and eventually Bulkhead sighed before gently prodding Miko with one of his fingers. "Miko, c'mon, you need to wake up. You have school."
The Japanese girl groaned as she blearily opened her eyes. "But Bulk…," she whined, "I don't want… to go…"
The olive green bot sighed. "Miko, you have to go," he said, projecting some finality into his voice. This caused the girl to groan again, but she managed to wake herself up, although it was obvious that she wasn't very functional. Arcee had a similar event with Jack, although he was less argumentative than Miko, but Bee had absolutely no luck with Raf. The twelve-year-old was dead to the world, and no matter how much he tried, the young Autobot could not wake him.
Jack, however, had a bit more success. He shook Raf and said, "Your mum will ground you again if you don't go to school," and Raf woke up seconds later, although he was just as lethargic as Miko and Jack. Bulkhead opted to take the kids to school, and everyone agreed on that, so he transformed, waited for them to get their gear and strap themselves in, then drove out of the base and towards Jasper.
The others all decided to go out on energon scouting missions. They all went to separate places, with Ratchet and Alice staying behind to keep an eye on the doctor's patients, and when Bulkhead eventually returned the medic sent him off as well. Alice and Ratchet didn't chat much, preferring to remain quiet and keep an eye on the barely stable Optimus, but when they did talk, the conversation was very brief and was absolutely devoid of any positivity.
A small groan distracted the both of them, and Ratchet looked over to see that Vesper was groggily opening her eyes. He immediately strode over and looked down at her, and she smiled up at him, clearly still in a semi-stupor. "D-Doctor," she said, in lieu of a greeting.
"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked, and Vesper groaned again before closing her eyes. "Any better?"
"Yes… and no," she breathed, wincing. Ratchet, upon seeing the wince, began to panic slightly, but then he remembered that Vesper was most certainly going to be in a little bit of pain due to the surgery. "I… can feel my legs again," she said, and relief blossomed in the medic's spark. "But… Optimus…"
Ratchet shook his head. "There isn't much that I can do for him, I'm afraid…" He felt very depressed, saying that, as well as ashamed. However, he knew that – with medical matters – it was best to be brutally honest rather than give someone false hope.
Vesper smiled weakly. "I am sure that you have done all in your power," she managed to say, before she began to drift off again. Ratchet did not say anything more as the femme drifted back into the world of dreams. But as she did, the medic couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming about…
Vesper found herself standing in a very strange location. It was the very top of the Iacon Hall of Records, a place that she'd only been a few times before. She looked around, gazing at all of the many panels displaying information that hung around her.
"I am wondering," she heard Optimus say, and she whipped around to see him sitting near a computer, typing away on it and not looking in her direction, "Why my subconscious chose this place, of all places for us to meet." He stood, turned to her, and gave her a warm smile.
Vesper wondrously looked around again. "This is your subconscious?" she asked, her cyan optics settling back on Optimus, who nodded. She found herself amazed by the clarity, by the detail that his subconscious had managed to give to the former place of his work. "This is amazing… but how am I here?" she asked, frowning curiously at him.
Optimus shrugged. "Because I wanted you to be here." He shook his head as he strode over. "I believe that, because we are sparkmates, we have some sort of bond."
Vesper shook her head. "I always believed that it was merely a bond that allowed us to share emotions. But now," she mused, looking around again, unable to comprehend the detail of her surroundings, "I am not so sure."
Optimus shrugged again. "I am unsure of it myself," he said. Then he walked over and pulled the femme into a gentle hug. "But I am simply grateful that we can spend time together." He gazed down at her tenderly, and she regarded him with an equally tender look. Then he slowly leaned down and kissed her ever so carefully, and she melted into the kiss, returning it.
When they broke away, Vesper felt like she'd lost something close to her, and judging from the expression on Optimus' face, he felt the same way. But she didn't tell him that. Instead, he released her and beckoned for her to follow, and in confusion, she did.
Optimus led her through the corridors of Iacon, and Vesper found herself absolutely gobsmacked at how much detail the bot remembered. Everything was the exact same as she remembered, perhaps even better, but that wasn't even the most astounding part.
The most astounding part was when he walked onto a balcony, and Vesper couldn't help but let out an astonished gasp as she took in the scenery. It was Cybertron as she remembered it before the war, before it had gone dark. She put a hand up, covering the 'o' that her mouth had formed, and looked over at Optimus with wide optics. "This is… beautiful," she whimpered, trying to fight the urge to cry.
Optimus walked over and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his body. "I always dream of this, you know," he said, his tone soft and warm. "Seeing Cybertron like this… is something I will always cherish."
Vesper nodded in agreement. "I concur," she breathed, smiling softly, sadly, as she gazed at the beautiful scenery before her. Then, after a brief, comfortable silence, the femme said, "I wish that, someday, we could stand here and look over Cybertron… for real."
Optimus looked down at her. "That would be nice," he said. "I would love that."
The femme smiled as she wrapped one of her arms around Optimus. "As would I." Then she felt herself struggling to breathe as Optimus leaned down and kissed her with a hunger, a passion that seemed desperate. It was as if he'd gone without her for too long and was unable to control himself for any longer. But she didn't care; she felt the same way he did. She could feel how he felt about her, somehow, and she wondered if he could feel how she felt.
She felt his hands trailing her body, the lightest brush of his fingertips on her plating making her shiver. She felt him pull away from her lips, and she was about to complain until she noticed his expression. His hands had settled on her shoulders, and he looked upset as well as confused.
"What—?" she was about to ask, but then she noticed that her servo – resting on Optimus' chest – was transparent. Her optics widened, and she looked up at her sparkmate with a terrified expression. "Optimus, what—"
"Someone is waking you up," he asked sullenly, then pulled her into a tight hug. "I do not want you to go…"
Vesper hugged him tightly back. "I do not want to leave you, either, but it appears that I must." Her tone indicated that she was, in no way, pleased with this decision, but both of them knew that it had to be so. "I will see you later?" she inquired as she started to fade even faster. Optimus nodded. Then, as she faded away and the world around her returned to darkness, she heard the Prime say a few, faint words.
"I love you."