Chapter 21

Never Alone Again

Section Specific warnings: Bad things happen, and also Hysterics.

The the peace of the morning was broken by the first wail. It had startled Thundercracker as he was sitting and reading in the living area while Jazz and Prowl had been performing routine maintenance on their weapon catch. They had dropped what they were doing, and were on their comms nearly immediately, already gathering intel before setting out to where Optimus was.

Alarms roared through the base, sending the Autobots scuttling for their weapons. It was chaos. Thundercracker could hear the pounding of steps outside, and emergency lights flashed red on the ceiling. It left Thundercracker's nerves skittering. Jazz and Prowl grabbed their gear as Thundercracker watched, optics wide with barely concealed panic. What if they never came back? What if he lost them too? What was he going to do? He couldn't imagine surviving this a second time. He couldn't imagine losing these mechs as well. he had already lost so much.

The spark jitterbugged against his own spark, picking up on his fear and panic, and echoing it back at him. Normally he would have calmed himself for the sparks sake, but this time it only seemed to increase his own agitation.

It had been quiet lately. Too quiet, as painfully cliche as he felt thinking that. He was in his last orbital cycle of carrying, and Ratchet said that the spark was strong, steady, and ready to be in it's own frame. The extra time near his spark would only strengthen it. He was so close to the end. Close enough that he had hoped things would stay quiet until the spark was finally detached, and safe in it's newly finished frame. A wave of panic ripped through him as he watched his bondmates head for the door.

" . .Don' .Me," he heard himself babbling, sounding closer to Bluestreak in a panic then himself. "Please don't leave me! Please! You won't come back! I can't-I can't do that again-I can't! I can't lose him, and lose you. I Can't! Please dont' do this!"

Prowl stopped, looking back at his bondmate with wide optics. Things had changed since Thundercracker stopped fighting the bond. It was strong now, where it had been a flimsy and fragile thing before. It was clear that Prowl felt the full rush of Thundercracker's emotions, and it made him stumble back. "Sweetspark...calm down. We will be back. I promise. It is all goign to be okay."

"No, I can't lose you too. Please," the Seeker's voice was so heavily laced with panicky static it took Jazz a moment to understand him, "don't do this! Please. Stay. Don't leave me." He trembled, swaying on his peds. For a moment it looked like he might fall, but he sank down to his knee struts, his wings trembling. "Please." Some small part of his processor knew he was being foolish, knew that he was over-reacting. They were harden warriors. They would make it through this. They had made it through thousands of battles...but so had Skywarp and Starscream. He had lost them all the same.

Jazz sighed, crossing the room. He pulled Thundercracker into a tight hug. "We will be back. We will do everything in our power to come back to you." Jazz pressed their helms together, "Everything and more." Jazz finally pulled away enough to look at Thundercracker's face. "Promise."

"No you won't," He cried, passing the edge of hysteria. "You'll leave me like they did. And I'll die! The spark will die!" He clung to Jazz, holding on tightly, and would have grabbed Prowl as well had the Praxian gotten any closer.

"Thundercracker, listen to me, please. We will be back, we won't leave you. But we need you to stay in here. Please." Jazz wiggled out of the Seeker's grasp, his spark wrenching as he watched Thundercracker curl up into a ball on the floor, wings quivering in distress.

Jazz sighed, turning away and going. If he stayed any longer he wouldn't be able to leave. His spark clenched painfully in his spark chamber. The pain echoed through the bond, and he knew Prowl was having the same feeling as he followed his mate into the hallway and they both headed out.

Thundercracker stayed curled into the ball on the floor for what seemed like joors to him. He could feel how they had partially closed the bond, and some part of him knew that they did not need the distraction. Another part of him wanted to batter away at it until the let him back in. It was a childish way to act. Skywarp would have made fun of him, and teased him until he smiled again, but Skywarp was not there, and neither was Jazz. He finally unwound himself from the ball he had curled in, wiped his face off, and flit nervously about the rooms fretting. He made himself sit down in front of the vid screen, but it could not hold his attention. His processor wondered, and he found himself concentrating on the brief flashes that bled through the bond. Neither mech was hurt. Jazz was...oddly...elated. Something had happened. Something big, but it wasn't clear what it was. If anything it made Thundercracker more anxious. He just wanted them back and safe.

For once he wished he could have gone with them. He would have been a target, and that wasn't something they could afford with the sparkling still attached to his spark. It would be far too easy to lose it.

He paced for what seemed like an eternity. He worried. He cried. He couldn't help but feel like history was repeating itself. Once the sirens stopped, the base was silent, eerily so. He curled back up on the berth, keening to himself silently. They were still alive, he could feel them through the bond, felt the comfort and love they sent back, but it was not enough to calm him. He tucked his wings tight against his back, still they quivered,full of nervous energy.

He had never felt so helpless in his life, nor so scared. by some miracle recharge slowly found him. His systems slowed down, and finally he fell into a light recharge on the berth. It was a light and fitful recharge that left him startling into awareness anytime he heard a sound outside of the habitation suite.

Thundercracker was still curled upon the berth sleeping when Jazz and Prowl returned. They exchanged worried looks, and Jazz carefully sat down the fusion cannon he had carried into the room on the floor before climbing into the berth. They curled against their bondmate, petting his plating, ghosting over his wings. Thundercracker vented in his recharge, and uncurled, fitting himself against them.

He came out of recharge hours later, limbs entangled with his bondmates, warm and safe. It was hard not to cling to them, so relieved they had returned. They didn't stop him when he checked over each bit of their plating looking for injuries and reassuring himself that they really were back with him, and unharmed. Thier fields pressed against his own, a wave of comfort, and love. They stayed that way until he stopped trembling, and his frayed nerves calmed. "I was so scared. I'm sorry I acted that way, he whispered. I just-"

"We understand," they both said, and held him close once more.

"I'm a glitch," the Seeker said, still holding on tightly. His optics scuttled over the room, finally settled on the fusion cannon where it rested on the floor. He had not heard them bring in anything, but that cannon it was horrifyingly familiar. He knew it intimately. He had thought that it would end him as well. He optics widened, he shivered and shook, but could not look away. "What happened?" He murmured, not expecting an answer, not even sure he wanted one.

"Guess he didn't know how to go into battle without you guys. It was like he didn't even know what to do, didn't even manage to block Blue's shot." Jazz said. "It was over quickly...for him at least. I think he had lost what little grip on sanity he had. He charged the line and Blue...the shot was true. Straight through his spark casing. His spark extinguished before he even hit the ground."

"What?" Thundercracker shook his helm. He couldn't' have heard right. He really was glitching. This was unreal. Impossible.

"Megatron was offlined." Prowl said softly, petting the Seeker's side.

"But Soundwave-" Thundercracker said, clearly shaken. He had wanted this but is seemed surreal.

"Was not there, nor were any of the recordicons. There was definitely something off about the whole battle." Prowl said, "But there is no doubt that Megatron is no more."

Thundercracker looked dully at the at the fusion cannon. He had thought he would feel better, that he would feel something, but he just felt empty. "Nothing can bring them back."

"Nothing at all." Prowl agreed.

For the second time that day Thundercracker cried, and thanked Primus he wasn't alone this time.