"Look at the light." An annoyed blue optic followed it to the left. Ratchet pulled back and clicked off his examination tool. "Optics appear to be functioning fine."

"Raaaaattttttccccchhhhheeettttt! I'm fine! I'd tell you if something felt wrong." whined a much younger sounding voice. Sideswipe was sitting on one of the medbay berths, where he and his brother had been staying for the last hour and a half. They had been poked and prodded and fussed over by their medic the entire time and no one was filling them in on anything. The carmine red and black bot was getting antsy.

The CMO was not amused, "You two slaggers almost offlined! Now both of you shut up until I'm done!" Sunstreaker muttered something that sounded like 'I didn't say anything' while his other patient pouted and gave a pleading look to Prime who'd been there since they'd woken up.

Optimus sighed as he leaned against the wall, "Ratchet, is there any problems?" a calm question.

"No," groused the red and white medic with a scowl, "I just need to make sure we didn't miss anything."

"If their condition is sufficient then we need to speak with them."

Sunstreaker snorted with derision, "We're right here you know."

The medic's scowl deepened, "Fine, fine. Alright you two, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Fighting Devastator." An immediate reply from Sideswipe who folded his arms and leaned back, mimicking his twin's posture. His twin remained silent and still. He did not look at anyone.

"Sunstreaker?" Their leader's gaze bore into the golden warrior.

He finally looked up, albeit coldly with one blue set of optics challenging the other. Black fingers tightened slightly as they gripped the berth. Lines of tension were evident in his frame. Finally he slowly spoke with a rough growl, "Sides was hurt."

"Hmm," Ratchet looked thoughtful, "Nothing after that?"

Sunstreaker shrugged, "I think I put our spark's together." Sideswipe's gaze flicked between all of them but he himself didn't seem surprised. He must have remembered that part at least.

"Ratchet, do you know why the Twins may not recall what happened?" Optimus now questioned the medic, his gaze unreadable. It was easy to tell how he was feeling on the better days but sometimes it was hard with the face mask on. Right now his deep voice held back any clues that may have given away his thoughts. Ratchet rubbed his chin with a red servo, still thinking. Without answering, he checked a diagram and some charts on one of the monitors.

Finally he sighed, "We found some damage to their memory banks. Nothing serious but it seems the core processors stopped their memory records once the primary systems started shutting down. It means they're having trouble remembering anything that happened once they were heavily damaged. It's a common enough occurrence with heavy trauma to the cranial and chest area," the medic admitted while turning back to study his patients with a critical optic.

"So...what happened? Did you guys show up and kick con aft?" The ruby twin looked back and forth between the Prime and the medic, a slightly cheerful and crooked grin creeping up in expectancy. Said bot's glanced at each other and exchanged a look. It didn't go unnoticed.

Now Sunstreaker's optics narrowed further, "I don't remember much after I put Sideswipe's spark in my chest...but someone showed up. Someone was there for awhile." This wasn't a question, but a stated fact. His brother bobbed his helm in agreement.

Ratchet stared at him with wide optics, "You couldn't have felt people around you while in the spark container. Or at least, you shouldn't remember it. Your memory banks weren't functioning once your sparks left your body..." Ideas flicked through his processor, "Are you absolutely certain you can't recall anything after moving Sideswipe's spark?" He questioned Sunstreaker, confusion evident on his faceplates.

"Wait, spark container?!" Sideswipe straightened up, "Our sparks were in a spark container?" He looked at his brother but the golden twin looked just as surprised. By now both of them were staring at their commanding officers with trepidation, postures agitated.

Optimus held up a servo, "Let us explain. Please." The red and blue Autobot added the last word to calm the frontliners. The Twins flicked optics to each other for a second before relaxing just a hint.

"When the first team got there, your frames were unresponsive. They couldn't get a spark signal from either of you." Tension suddenly lit upon them again, servos clenching and optics turning a shade paler.

Ratchet snarled baring his denta, "And the cons paid for it. They weren't moving too much after we were through." He recalled arriving at the scene and staring in horror. Ironhide and Prowl were tearing the Constructicon's apart and as soon as the others behind him arrived, they joined in.

He stood overlooking the muddy field and below him cries of pain filled the air. Calm and collected Prowl was shooting at Mixmaster and got an opening. The tactician rushed inward, delivering a crushing strike with his fist to the already dizzy cement mixer. The decepticon fell while Ironhide roared and pummeled Hook. He caught a glance of Scavenger turning tale and fleeing the fight with a crushed arm and busted leg. The medic broke into a run and wove through the battle to get to the Twins. Above he had seen the shattered bodies, the dark optics. But he had still hoped. Even when he couldn't find the spark signals the ambulance had hoped he had been wrong. They couldn't be gone, they just couldn't. Not the Twins.

The seekers had shown up to retrieve their teammates per their lord's instructions and many an Autobot had started after them. Only his order's as CMO and with the help of Prowl did they stop the others from following their retreating enemies. Ratchet had refused to lose any other bot to the Decepticons that day. If he hadn't been so worried about his friend's lives he would have gone ahead and torn apart the cons himself. The Twins were one of his and the grief had nearly overwhelmed him.

Optimus continued, unaware of Ratchet's inner hurt, "Your frames were retrieved and brought back, but we thought you were dead. There were no sparks in your body." His voice was low and he seemed very tired all of a sudden, the anguish and gloom that had settled in their base for the past week seeping through his words. No one had been unaffected. The entire place had been eerily quieter than normal, hushed conversations and saddened looks, no music in the rec room, no brawls in the hallways, no cheerful greetings as the shifts changed. Even the dinobots were suddenly less anxious to be about and remained in their room. The only loud noise to be heard was from the training room were many vented their rage and anguish.

"What happened?" Sunstreaker hissed quietly.

"Almost two days ago a human showed up with the container that held your sparks." Ratchet huffed, once again composed and back to his normal irritated self, "Sunstreaker, do you carry a spark container on your person?"

The frontliner frowned in response before digging into his subspace pocket and coming up empty, "It's gone."

"Wait, you carry one of those? Why?" Apparently Sideswipe had not known about this.

"For emergencies," Snarled Sunny, whacking his brother's helm.

"Hey! Stop that! I am the only one allowed dealing damage in this room and I just put you both back together!" Ratchet waved a tool threateningly at them. Both settled down although Sunstreaker was still scowling. He sneakily nudged his brother with his knee. The medic's glare deepened.

The Prime tried to get the conversation back on track, "The human woman said she approached you Sunstreaker, while the both of you were injured on the battlefield. She said you had told her to bring the container to us and then you had put both of your sparks in there." He tilted his helm at the patients, watching to see if any recognition sparked in their optics. Sunstreaker's optics narrowed.

Ratchet joined in, "This was almost a week after you two took on Devastator by yourselves. It's been nine days." The red and white bot moved over to once again check the monitors that were hooked up to the Twins and make sure nothing had changed.

Both Autobots had frozen faces, not moving and not giving away any emotion. Quietly Sideswipe clicked something to his brother, turning toward him. Sunny have a harsh whistle in reply and shook his head in obvious denial, brows furrowing in anger. This was the language the Twins had come up with a while ago and they were the only ones to speak it.

"Boys..." The medic narrowed his optics and leaned forward.

Sideswipe suddenly looked up at him, the ruby mech's gaze completely focused on Ratchet, "Where'd the human go?" His brother made an angry sounding trill and a few clicks. The CMO gave a hard stare in return. They meant where in the Ark was she, right? There was absolutely no way they could know that the woman was gone.

"Shay Carpenter left earlier today when Ratchet started putting your sparks back. She left a note for the both of you." Optimus watched his warriors carefully while he straightened and handed them the folded paper. The CMO raised an optic ridge in surprise. He hadn't known about the note. Sideswipe reached out and carefully opened it. With a blank face that would have done their tactician proud he showed to Sunstreaker before folding it once again and putting it in his subspace. He stared off into space with a vacant gaze while the golden mech's optics went nearly white as pitch servos clenched their seat, making the metal creak.

The paper read:

The Lightning Was Pretty.

- Shay