A/N: I'm late, but I'm here! I'm so sorry! Yesterday was busy! I had had the chapter all prepared to go and everything and I got thoroughly distracted! By chores and wedding planning. Usually I would've posted the chapter before I had even gotten started, so I wouldn't have to worry, but my brain was not working when I woke up yesterday because I had poor quality sleep and also woke up absolutely STARVING, which is vastly unusual for me. I usually have to be awake a couple hours before my body can handle food, much less give me signals to eat. And then I left the house pretty quickly after that to do laundry and then we had a cake to discuss with each other and then with my future sister-in-law, who is making it and that thoroughly distracted me from this until I forgot I hadn't done it yet. Ooops! My deepest and sincerest apologies.
I would like to address a topic, brought on by the most recent review of this story on FF.N, courtesy of katrupp03, whose review I replied to in PM due to them having a question and I wanted to answer it more timely. If you have a request for me to write something, you can feel free to propose it to me in a DM, or even in a review. I will not guarantee I will reply with a "Yes, I will do that." BUT if it is for a one-shot, I might consider it. I have my own ideas for little one-shots, one involving a certain Galloway getting shoved out a plane during an already written mission that I haven't decided how to write out or if it even needs writing out. I will not be considering any long-form story ideas at this time, however. Maybe once I get through this one? But that won't be for a while, to be honest. I plan for this to be pretty long running. And even if I find a natural end to it, I may end up doing a sequel. Or I may return to old stories and figuring out whether I want to continue them as they are or rewriting them as well. I haven't decided what I wanna do with my pile of hiatused stories, to be honest. The intent is to return to them in some capacity. Maybe I will utilize bits within this story? Maybe I won't. I don't know yet. That may be determined by if I have stuff to do that you guys request that I decide to take on between now and then. Like I said, though, only one-shots will be considered for any immediate action. It could be years before I touch any multi-chapter ideas. This focus-on-one-story approach seems to be doing me well.
Another topic I would like to bring up based on a trend I have seen roaming around the internet. If you have thoughts you'd like to share about my story in a review, please do so! Do not think you are being a bother or that it is frivilous. Even something as simple as "I enjoyed this chapter!" or "Nice" can be nice to see. Reviews are a boost to a writer's soul, especially if it is positive, no matter how short it is or how meaningless you may feel it is! Heck, I don't even mind negative reviews. Sometimes negative reviews can have something helpful, not always, but, hey you can't make everyone happy. The interaction is nice. Or you all can keep lurking, that's fine! I am going to keep writing either way, but a lot of writers out there need that interaction for motivation, so it's food for thought. And even those of us who don't, we still greatly appreciate it!
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And I do appreciate you all for taking the time to read this far, whether you review, favorite, follow, kudos, etc, or not! I lurk on most stories I read myself, so I get it. I appreciate you lurkers too, I truly, truly do. ;)
Chapter 15: Mysteries
We sat around the table, gazing at the shard Prowl's team had brought back from the ancient Cybertronian temple they'd found in the African jungles. We had found some small inscriptions on it, but had yet to see if we could translate them.
"Did you find anything else?" Optimus asked, looking at the three bots who'd been on that mission.
"Well, the first thing we came across was a gigantic wall covered in the ancient Language of the Primes," Ironhide said.
"In Ancient Primic?" Elita asked, looking interested.
Prowl nodded. He pulled out a datapad and extended a cord from it to plug into the table. After tabbing some buttons, several holo screens appeared displaying images of the wall.
I shifted in my seat, looking closer at it at the same time as Elita. As she was humming in thought, tracing lines with her fingers, I was trying to place why some of it looked familiar when I had not even seen any of it in all my time as a Transformers fan.
"We had thought this was it until it opened at Chromia's touch," Prowl said. He was about to continue when I spoke my thoughts out loud by mistake.
"This looks familiar," I muttered quietly.
Prowl's fingers paused over the buttons on his datapad as everyone looked to me. He gazed at me intently. "You know the Language of the Primes? Or is this from your information?"
"Neither," I replied, not much louder than my initial words. Then I pulled my own datapad out. I looked at it, then at Prowl's, then back at mine.
Ironhide leaned over and guided me how to replicate the action Prowl had taken to display the images from his datapad. Then, once I did so, the images I had taken of the structure in the cave when Vector Prime had first sent me to this reality appeared alongside Prowl's images.
"When dear old dad dropped me off in that desert cave and I delved into it, cause it beat standing out in the open and praying the 'Cons didn't find me first, I came across a structure with similar writing," I said. I reached up and traced lines on both. "The inscription looks identical."
"Interesting," Elita said. "Did you find anything else there?"
"I didn't really get a chance to look past this wall. Arcee found me after I took these pictures and then the 'Cons jumped us," I replied. I looked toward Prowl, silently giving the meeting back to him.
Prowl pulled up more images, this time of a mural. Or murals. "After descending into the structure we came to this room," he said, pointing to a picture that encompassed a large room with one large mural on one wall and more writing. "During our examination of this room, I discovered a rune that seemed to respond to touch. When I touched it, it shone a bright red color as many things do when denying a passcode or something similar. But when Chromia touched it…" He moved the windows so one was more prominent that showed a rune shining bright blue with branches spreading out from it.
"...it opened another passageway," Prowl continued. "The rest of these murals, the ones not part of that big mural, were lining the passageway. They seemed to depict the same thing as the main mural. A conflict of some kind, with what appears to be smaller versions of the foe depicted on the large mural in the first room."
I reached out and traced the line of the mural in one of the murals, then turned my attention to the image of the large mural as I listened to Prowl speak, focusing on it.
"At the end of the passageway," Prowl said, enlarging an image that I didn't see as I was focusing now on the large mural. "We came to a smaller room where we found the shard. The murals met and seemed to circle the shard, making their way from the previous room and then back to it."
"Like a cycle," I said absently. Then I paused my scrutiny of the image as I noticed everyone's silence and attention had shifted to me. I looked at them. "It's an artist's trick. Like an infinity sign. To have events depicted in a circle. Circles are usually used to depict cycles—things that are fated to happen in cycles, like the battle with the Reapers in the Mass Effect games that happen every ten thousand years until it's broken, or something like that. In science as well, the life cycle, for instance. How that applies here, I don't know. We don't even know what we're looking at yet."
"A cycle would make the prominence of the symbol for 'time' make a bit more sense," Prowl mused.
"You're scrutinizing that one image pretty hard, fembot," Chromia said as she saw me look back at the mural. "See something you recognize?"
"Besides the bots that look eerily like Optimus and Megatron?" I asked, pointing at the two most prominent figures.
"Yes," Chromia said, looking amused. "Besides them."
I poked the image a couple times before figuring out how to enlarge it. Once I did, I motioned at the large foe the bots in the mural were facing. "This guy," I said. "Looks like a stylized image of Unicron to me."
The bots were silent as they stared at the image.
"It…does resemble some depictions I've seen in my studies," Elita said.
"Yeah," Jazz agreed. "A little bit. If I squint."
"So, you think this shard has to do with Unicron?" Chromia asked, motioning to the object they'd found.
"Maybe?" I said, uncertain as I looked at the shard. "Or maybe it has to do with how to defeat him? Or to keep him in stasis at the very least? It would mean the Unicron business is definitely gonna take a different route than the route I have knowledge of if I'm right regardless. If this is a cycle, and the shard is related, then it is highly likely that every piece of my information that has been accurate has been more coincidence than because I entered into a timeline I knew. I mean, convenient that so much has been, but clearly we're on a separate timeline since before I even showed up if this discovery tells us anything."
The bots all shared a look with each other.
"What does that mean for what's left of what you know?" Jazz asked.
I waved a hand at all the images. "Based on this, vague ideas about what may be coming is all I got," I said. "Unicron was the one event I thought was a sure fire that I would have a handle on the details still with all the changes that were happening. This changes that. I may still be able to help in some events, but even the ones I know are quite open to being different, between this and the Shifter Incident. I mean, I know more than just events, too, that may be useful, but yeah."
"In light of this information," Optimus said, looking at me. "How do you feel about the warning you gave Megatron about Dark Energon?"
I shrugged a bit. "Not much different," I replied honestly. "There's still a chance that if he listens it might prove to cause a problem, but I think it's a navigable problem if it is a problem." I looked at the images of the murals for a moment before continuing. "Plus, it's Megatron. And he knows not all of my information has been accurate after the Omega Keys, so he might ignore it altogether, which would create its own problems."
"So either way, we got problems," Jazz said. "So you told him information that didn't mean much."
"I mean, it matters if he listens for what problems we face regarding Dark Energon," I said. "I'd prefer to deal with the problems of him not using Dark-En, which may not even be a concern based on this, over bringing back the Dark-En fueled Decepticons I read about from when the war was on Cybertron. It's much simpler, less prolonged, and at least somewhat less dangerous."
"Somewhat?" Ironhide asked.
I shrugged. "Jumping into a volcano somewhat," I said, humor in my tone a bit.
Ironhide raised his optic ridge, but I saw Prowl give a subtle smile at my reference to Ratchet's statement about me jumping into a volcano.
"I guess we'll see if he listens, then," Elita said.
"Indeed," I said in agreement. Then I glanced at the shard. "Were there any other…weird things like the rune only reacting to Chromia?" I poked at the shard.
"Yeah," Chromia said. "I was the only one it let remove it from the pedestal. Some kind of shield zapped Ironhide when he tried."
"Hmm," I hummed in thought. "Interesting."
"Do you have any theories based on the realities you have knowledge of?" Optimus asked.
"Nothing solid," I said. "The show is the only reality I really knew any details about dealing with Unicron from. Everything else I could tell would be pure speculation and theories. And we have little information to feed such theories."
"I understand," Optimus said.
There was silence for a little bit before someone spoke again.
"We should check out the location Shadebreaker identified," Prowl said. "The two locations seem connected."
"The Decepticons may have beat us to it," I said, leaning back in my chair and tilting my helm. "You know, since we got ambushed by them there."
"Even if they did," Prowl said. "If the place had the same security measures, they would've had to take the whole mountain."
"They could still be maintaining control over the place," Elita said. "If they decided it was a place of some importance."
"And I'd wager Megatron knows enough of the ancient Primes to consider it a place of importance," I said.
"I'd take that bet," Chromia agreed. "And add on that he might try to take the whole mountain."
"I believe it is worth checking out, regardless," Optimus said. "And, if these security measures and Vector's action of placing Shadebreaker there mean anything, Shadebreaker needs to be there."
I nodded, having come to that conclusion as well.
"I'll go as well," Ironhide said.
"And I," Chromia said.
"Very well," Optimus said. "We will also send the twins with you. Prowl, Bumblebee and I will standby in case you need backup."
"Understood," Prowl said.
I peeked out over the rocks we were ducked behind to determine whether it was safe to approach the cave Vector had dropped me at. I had portalled us a distance away so we wouldn't immediately be detected if the Decepticons were here.
"How's it look out there?" Ironhide asked, adjusting something on his cannon.
"The 'Cons are definitely here," I replied, counting. "I count ten at the top of the ridge that surrounds the cave entrance. My visor is picking up three more below at the immediate entrance. Invariably there will be more within, but that's outside of my range from here."
"Ok, so what's the plan?" Chromia asked. "If we just charge them from here, they'll see us coming."
"I can portal us closer. Theoretically, I could portal us right on top of them," I said, holding a finger up. "The ten up top are rather grouped together, looks like a collective break. I think they've been here long enough they've gotten comfortable. Complacent in the peace they have enjoyed."
"That, or whoever is in that cave is powerful enough they're not worried about an attack." Sunstreaker pointed out.
I frowned.
"We won't get anywhere sitting here and talking about it," Chromia said.
"Shadebreaker, why don't you just go ahead and put us right on top of them," Ironhide suggested.
I nodded, letting myself slide the little bit down the boulder to the ground. I pulled my Path Blaster out and checked to make sure everyone was ready before openning a new portal.
"Let's bust some afts," Sideswipe said, grinning.
The twins were the first through, followed by Ironhide. Chromia and I took up the rear. We came out of the portal literally right on top of the vehicles, falling to the ground from a small elevation just above where they lounged around chatting like this was a vacation.
I didn't pay much attention to the others other than to make sure no one was in need of help. Instead I focused on blasting the two Vehicons that had managed to slip behind where we emerged from. One of them got close enough to swing their sword at me, but I stepped back in time to dodge and then their helm exploded before anything else could happen.
I shot Chromia a "really? I had that" look and she shrugged before returning to the remaining Vehicons. I took out one more, then saw that the three posted at the front of the cave, plus a few more, were starting to scale the walls to join the fight.
I walked over and looked down as the others made short work of the one Vehicon left up here. "Ya'll don't really think you can make it here, do ya?" I asked as the others moved up too.
The vehicons stopped, looking at us and then at each other.
"We're dead." I heard one of them say.
And they were. It felt simultaneously like an Obi-Wan "I have the high ground" moment and a Mass Effect "Why shoot something once when you can shoot it 46 more times" moment. I wasn't sure whether I was amused by this similarity or if I felt bad for the Decepticons.
"You ever feel bad for the poor sods who get put on fodder duty?" Sideswipe asked, reloading his gun.
"Naw," Chromia shrugged and jumped down with Ironhide.
"Only a little," I said as I frowned at my gun. It felt abnormally warm in my hand. I checked it over briefly. "They chose their side, though."
"Why should we feel sorry for those slaggers?" Sunstreaker asked his brother as he approached.
"I was just wondering," Sideswipe shrugged.
Sunstreaker took my blaster gently from my hands for a moment, looked at and then gave it back. "I would put that away for something else. And have Ironhide look at it back at base. It's gonna explode on you if you fire it two more times."
I nodded, understanding. I subspaced it and then took out a different, more generic weapon I'd chosen as a backup for that first mission. Then we jumped down to join the others.
"What took ya?" Chromia asked as we joined them where they were peering into the cave.
"Weapon malfunction," I said, keeping the sigh out of my voice.
"I'll take a look when we get back," Ironhide said.
I nodded and looked toward the cave, focusing. "I'm not picking up anymore life signs." I said, tone cautious.
"They could be cloaked," Ironhide said. "Move in, carefully. Shade' stay in the middle."
My wings shifted slightly, but I didn't argue about it. All indicators said I needed to be available to get into the place to begin with. Plus I had the least amount of combat experience and it made sense to put the weakest in the middle, protected. It hadn't been lost on me, however, that Chromia had said I was a bot of some importance as well, whatever she meant by that—I disagreed, but the meeting hadn't been the place to do so.
The cave was quiet as we delved into it and I noted the fact it was much more lit up since I was last here. The Decepticons had strung up lights so they could navigate without the use of their flashlights all the time. I kept an optic out in every direction and my wing sensors on high alert.
It wasn't very long before we made it to the wall I had taken pictures of. There was mining equipment left around and scorch marks. There was still damage to the pillar the little cloaking dude had gotten his sword stuck in that day. The damage around the wall showed the Decepticons had been attempting to dig their way in.
"Was that really it for the welcoming committee?" Sideswipe asked skeptically.
"There was a cloaker last time I was here," I said, also feeling skeptical as I stared into the deeper part of the cave. "Hard to believe they put such light guard here."
"Unless they really did get complacent," Chromia said. "That was, what? Half a year ago?"
"A little more," I said, doing some quick math in my helm. Mainly with the dates, cause a lot of my recovery time felt like a blur. Time is weird soup as my would-be sister-in-law used to say. "Almost a year, actually."
"Damn," Sideswipe said. "And you're already in meetings."
My wings shifted slightly.
"Don't start, twins," Ironhide growled in warning.
"I didn't say anything," Sunstreaker said.
"I'm just saying, it took me a whole lot longer than a year to get invited to important meetings," Sideswipe said.
"You didn't have information on the future, though, did you?" Chromia asked as she moved toward the doorway that was situated in the language covered wall.
Sideswipe opened his mouth, but shut it as Ironhide glowered at him.
I shifted a wing again, having things I could say, but neither wanting to argue while out in the field nor ruin the chances we could become friends. Even if Sideswipe wasn't helping that right now himself.
"Hey Shadebreaker!" Chromia called.
I turned my attention away from scanning the darkness beyond where the Decepticons had lit up to and moved toward where Chromia was by the door.
"I can't find anything like what opened the one in Africa," Chromia said. She tapped the doorway and a shield wavered into existence. "But I think I know what stopped the 'Cons from getting in." She shook her hand as if shocked by static.
"Assuming they didn't get to tunnel in," Sunstreaker said from where he was now analyzing a hole. He knelt and reached through it, pulling his arm back out quickly. "Ah. That would be a no."
"Hm," I said. I reached out myself.
The shield made contact with me, but it didn't zap me nor did it create waves like Chromia's touch had. Curious, I pushed against it and my hand went through it.
"Optimus was right," Ironhide said. "You're the only one it'll let through, I reckon."
"It seems so," I said, backing up. I didn't like it.
Going into an unknown ancient structure alone? After everything that had happened? I would've done so gladly had I managed to make it in that day, but I had spent most of my time with the bots recovering and pouring over datapads. My combat training left a lot to be desired and after having real world experience in combat the idea I could face a battle on my own entirely made me nervous. My luck and strange skill to come out alive had to run out sometime.
"If it helps, we didn't encounter any troubles in ours," Ironhide said. "And, unless your father is dumber than we think, I doubt he'd have sent you here to known danger in that condition."
I gave Ironhide a dry look. "He dropped me in the middle of nowhere while I was only functioning thanks to my high levels of pain tolerance and pure stubbornness," I pointed out dryly. "I don't think he fully thought it through when he didn't just drop me right outside the Autobot Base."
"That's…a fair point," Ironhide said and then eyed the door skeptically himself now.
"Your father sounds like a fragger," Sunstreaker said as Sideswipe reached out toward the doorway.
I blinked as Sideswipe over pushed himself, clearly expecting resistance, only to fall through the doorway.
There was silence for a long moment.
"What the frag?" Sunstreaker asked.
"Well, at least I won't explore the mystery dungeon alone," I said, shrugging as I moved to join Sideswipe on the other side.
"We'll keep it clear out here," Chromia said.
" Or I could send you home and portal Sideswipe and I out without backtracking once we are done," I suggested, pausing for a moment.
"Nope," Chromia said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "If the 'Cons figure out how to bypass that shield you will need us."
I shrugged. "Fair," I said. "And not wrong. We'll return after retrieving…whatever it is."
I stepped through the shield and looked down at the confused looking Sideswipe. He looked up at me.
"I didn't expect that to work," he said.
"Clearly," I said and offered him a hand up.
He took my hand and I helped him to his pedes.
"You think that means there's two whatever-they-ares here?" Sideswipe asked as we walked down the hallway.
"That would be my guess," I said, looking at the walls as we walked.
We walked in awkward silence for some time. At least, it felt awkward whenever I paid attention to Sideswipe's body language at all.
"I didn't ask to be involved in meetings, you know," I told him softly. "I'm sorry that it upsets you."
Sideswipe shrugged a bit. "I just don't get it, that's all," he said. "You didn't even have your badge until the other day, but the moment you do you get put in meetings."
I was silent for a long moment as we walked. "I'm not sure I get it either," I admitted. "I feel like I'm being treated as if I'm some important player in this war and I'm not. Just a femme who got kidnapped by a mad scientist, experimented on and happened to have a bunch of information in my helm. We don't even know if my relation to Vector Prime is genuine or not."
"Oh…oh!" Sideswipe said. "I didn't know that."
"That my relation to him is questionable?" I asked.
"No," Sideswipe shook his helm. "That he was who you were referring to when you and Ironhide were talking about your father. I thought he, like, kicked you out of your ship or something."
"Nope," I said. "First, he rescued me from Shockwave. Then he sent me through a portal to, well, here." I waved my hands toward the hallway, which felt like it was going on forever. "But, like I said, we don't know the details of the relation. Was it pre-existing? Did Shockwave do something that caused it? The world may never know."
Sideswipe hummed, but he seemed to have perked up, looking like he had gained an understanding. "Well, I'm sorry your father sucks and abandoned you."
I shrugged. "Eh, nothing new. The one who was supposed to raise me did the same, so I can't honestly say I'm surprised it happened again."
"Omph, O for two, huh?" Sideswipe winced sympathetically. "Sunny and I know a thing or two about abandonment as well."
"I'm sorry," I said genuinely. "It is a pain I wish none of us knew. But some of us know all too well, it seems."
"Yeah…" Sideswipe said.
As our conversation died out, we finally reached the end of the hallway. We entered a large room and I paused to take it in. There was a similar mural to the one found in Africa, except this one had more bots in the foreground. Simultaneously those bots were less detailed than the Optimus and Megatron look-alikes had been.
"Hey," Sideswipe said, moving closer to the mural. He pointed to one with wings. "This one almost look like Chromia. And Ironhide. And…who's the winged bot?"
I moved up next to him and looked at it closely, squinting. "A seeker, maybe?" I suggested. "About Starscream's height, compared to the others, if we assume they're the bots they look kinda like."
"The silhouette's off, though," Sideswipe said, doubtfully.
I traced it with a frown. It looked kinda how I had imagined my own self as a Cybertronian back before this all had transpired. When I had been but a human in another reality writing Transformers fanfiction. The height was off, though, and there was also the fact it had been merely theory and a silly little exercise.
"I hardly know all the Seekers in existence, do you?" I asked Sideswipe.
"Considering the majority of them are Decepticons? Nope," Sideswipe said. "You're the one with all the information."
"Not all the information in the multiverse, though," I said. "My information is still limited. Which is actually a good thing, considering Shockwave's foray into my mind."
"Fair," Sideswipe conceded. "You think Unicron was the only thing he withheld from Megatron?"
"It's hard to know," I said, shifting my wings. "It's also just hard to know how thoroughly he went through my mind. I don't know if I want to know, to be honest."
"I can understand that," Sideswipe said, looking sympathetic.
"Anyways," I said, wanting to move on. "Prowl said there was a rune that triggered another passage when Chromia touched it, so we should look for something like that. There might be two, one for each of us. Unless it's a linear path or they're stored in one place."
"Right," Sideswipe said.
We started searching the walls, going in separate directions and checking thoroughly for anything that reacted to touch. We were silent as we searched, but it was less awkward now, which I appreciated. I doubted the bit of conversation solved every issue that stood between us being friends, but it definitely made progress toward alleviating the tension between us. At least, I hoped it did. It seemed like it did.
"Found it!" Sideswipe called, even as a passage began opening where he was.
I glanced toward where he was to see the process at work and then back at the wall I was analyzing. After a bit more searching, I found a rune that responded to my own touch, opening another path.
"It seems we must split up, after all," I said, mildly annoyed.
"Comm. me if you run into trouble," Sideswipe said without hesitation.
"Same to you," I said, flexing a wing.
We turned from each other then, each heading down our respective hallways. I wasn't thrilled to be going alone, but at least there was a good chance of not running into trouble. Still, the silence of the hallway was more uncomfortable than the awkward one from before. At least I had known the cause of the awkward silence. This silence, the silence of the absence of any other lifeform in the immediate vicinity, was more disconcerting to me.
"I would've really much rather this be a linear trip," I muttered to myself.
This hallway, luckily, didn't feel like it went on forever, though it still felt quite long. The room I entered at the end of the hallway was only a little bigger than it needed to be to fit myself and the pillar holding the object I was looking for.
"Hm, I suppose that's about what I expected," I commented, eyeing the shard.
It looked much like the shard Prowl's team had returned with. The exact shape was different and it was a different color, but it was essentially the same. I reached out and grabbed hold of it, pulling it from the pillar. I looked at it, then around at the room surrounding it—at the strange absence of any more murals. Why had Chromia's had more depictions?
I considered the room for a moment longer before shrugging and turning to backtrack. I met up with Sideswipe back in the first room and we showed each other our shards. His was also a different color and a slightly different shape. Then we subspaced them and began making our way back to the others.
"We good to go?" I asked as we exited the doorway to find the three of them still waiting.
"Let's go, before the 'Cons figure out their guards here have gone silent," Ironhide said.
I opened a portal and we all hurried through it. I felt a surprising amount of relief to make it back home, sighing lightly as I closed the portal behind us.
I poked into the main room of medbay after the post-mission meeting where we debriefed Optimus and the others about how it had gone. We had also tested to see if anything happened when we put the shards near each other and, while the energy they emitted seemed to interact slightly, nothing seemed to take place.
"Ratchet?" I asked, looking around.
I saw Bulkhead, of course, still unconscious on the bed Ratchet had been working on. An IV ran into his arm to provide energon and probably meds and supplements as needed. I recognized another thing attached to him as a spark support device from my own recovery time—I hadn't needed it long, but there was a brief period during it where Ratchet had been concerned about my spark giving out.
Miko was present, sitting atop Bulkhead with her knees pulled to her chest. It reminded me of when Bulkhead had been hurt in the show. It was both spark breaking to see she was so upset, but at the same time a relief to know they were still forming a bond despite all the changes.
"Ratchet's not here at the moment," Miko said, voice small and sad as I approached.
"I see," I said softly. I looked at Bulkhead's face. It looked peaceful at least. "Did he tell you how he is?"
"He said he'll live and will recover physically," Miko said. "But until he wakes up, it's hard to know how he is. Mentally, I mean."
I nodded. "Such is the way it goes, unfortunately," I said sadly. "But I have been assured that he is not in as bad shape as I was when I arrived and Ratchet got me in pretty good shape." I reached out and gently touched Miko's back. "I'm sure Bulkhead will pull through as well."
Miko wiped at her eyes. "Yeah," she said. "Still hard to believe the Bulkhead I was talking to for months wasn't even Bulkhead. Those memories are fake."
"I'm sorry," I said gently. "I know it sucks. I wish we caught it sooner. But we're here now. And Bulkhead will get better. And you will make new, real memories with him this time."
"I will," Miko agreed. She was quiet for a long time.
"Do you need anything, Miko?" I asked softly. "Water? Food? A blanket?"
Miko sniffed. "Can you just…stay? I don't want to be alone," she said.
I rubbed her back gently with my finger. "I can do that," I said gently.
Eventually Miko did let me coax her away from Bulkhead so she could eat some dinner, but she refused to leave medbay, so I sat on the couch with her while she ate. I had my own dinner at the same time and we consumed our respective dinners slowly and afterwards she fell asleep leaning against my leg, listening to music play softly.
I rested my hand over her as if as a blanket and then sighed, closing my optics as I prepared to sleep right there with her. She had asked me to stay, so therefor I would stay. Unless I got called away, at least. I left the music on, afraid turning it off would wake her up and finding the presence of soothing myself.