Fixit is waiting for them when Thundercracker and Nacelle enters the medical bay.
"He's in medical induced coma." The physician explains as they walk towards the door into ICU 2, "You got to him before his vital systems began to shut down, but it is impossible to know what damage he might have sustained before he regains consciousness. We plan to try and wake him in two days, and from there on evaluate further treatment. It is possible he will need physical therapy or surgery, but if there are permanent injury, then it is in the less important systems. Prognosis is good and he should make a full recovery."
"Have you found the cause?" Nacelle asks while Thundercracker enters the intensive care unit.
The blue seeker is only distantly aware of Fixit's answer, his whole attention on the comatose Skywarp lying on the sole berth inside the ICU.
It is completely silent, aside from the respirator and the frequent blips from the machinery keeping the black and purple seeker alive.
To see Skywarp like this...
No stupid smile on his lips.
No sparkling life in the offline optics.
No field.
No sign of life except for the movements caused by the machinery.
It is as if Skywarp is gone.
Dead.
Only the steady line of a stable spark pulse on a monitor indicates that the seeker in front of him is alive, and it puts his life into perspective.
What if Skywarp never wakes?
What is he going to do then?
A single tear trails slowly down his cheek as he walks closer.
His hand caresses along a thruster, the heat radiating from the plating easing something inside him, and he sits down in the chair beside the berth.
He places his hand slowly on black chestplates and feels the life-force hidden behind them.
Strong and calm.
"Come back to me, Skywarp."
"I don't know what I'm going to do without you."
"Sire! Sire! Starfall is doing it again!"
"Am not!"
A loud shriek.
"STOP IT!"
Skywarp sighs.
"Starfall, be nice to your sister."
"But, SIRE!"
"No but!"
"What's going on in here?"
Skywarp turns around to see Thundercracker in the doorway into their berth room.
"You shouldn't be up." He comments softly, his optics going to the blue seeker's slightly distended middle.
No.
This is wrong.
A fast rewind.
Landing outside their house, he enters the code to the door and walks in.
::Emergency message to Skywarp.::
What the...
::Skywarp receiving.::
::Bondmate Thundercracker hospitalized. ICU 23 Iacon Primary.::
No.
Still wrong.
A fast rewind.
Thundercracker's lustful optics as the blue seeker sucks his spike.
No.
Their sparks merging.
Stop.
"I'm sparked." Thundercracker purrs happily.
Wrong.
"Take me, Skywarp. I know you want to. I can see the lust in your optics. Feel the desire in your field. Why not just take?" Thundercracker taunts.
This is wrong.
"Is it?" The blue seeker questions.
Wrong.
"Poor little Skywarp." Thundercracker mocks.
You are not real.
"Maybe not, but I am you innermost desire."
Fast rewind.
Where is he?
Who is he?
What happened?
"It has been four days since you took him out of the medical induced coma, why isn't he waking?"
He knows that voice...
"He will wake when his processor is ready to it."
Who are they talking about?
"How long can it take?"
That voice again...
"It is not uncommon for the processor to take a week to realize that it no longer is drugged."
Smells assault him.
Strong and clinical.
Hospital.
It takes time to distinguish them.
To get used to them, but slowly their assault on his senses abate.
A faint pleasant scent of ozone follows the voice he knows, but can't place.
Whenever he hears it, the scent is ever present and strong.
He hears the voices louder and clearer.
It feels like being under water while fighting to get to the surface.
If he can just...
...but he can't.
His frame is aching.
Processor throbbing.
Spark hurting.
He rubs his chestplates, trying to defuse the pain in his spark.
"Fixit!"
A loud sound, then more voices.
His optics online gradually.
He moves a hand to shield them from the bright light.
"Skywarp. Can you hear me?"
"Who?" He croaks, throat sore.
A blurry blue figure fills his whole sight.
"Where..." He mumbles.
"Thundercracker, you need to give him room."
The blue figure vanishes from sight, but he can still hear the voice belonging to it in the distance.
The voice he knows, but still can't place.
"Where am I?" He asks confused.
"You are in the medical bay, Skywarp. Can you remember anything?"
"No... I don't think so..."
His sight clears slowly and he looks at a red and white flier standing beside him.
He looks around, confusion written in his face.
"What happened?" He asks.
"You have been in coma for nine days." Fixit explains, and shines a light first into his right, then into his left optic. "Normal reaction. Good. Good."
"We'll run some tests now that you are awake." The physician adds before asking, "Are you in any pain? Does anything feel wrong?"
"I think so... I don't know..."
"Still a bit disoriented. I'll give your processor some more time to catch up." Fixit comments and moves away after having increased the flow of painkiller.
"Skywarp?"
The voice is back and he looks closely at the blue seeker that takes the physician's spot beside his berth.
"Who are..."
A field reaches out, open, desperate and longing.
In a flurry of emotions, it feels like being dragged from the depth of water and into the open air as clarity returns to his processor.
"Thundercracker." He whispers in amazement.