Kaput left the medbay, he spotted Tailgate wandering around the corridor, looking around with his innocent curiosity.
Fangry was sitting up in his berth, recovering from his injuries.
Tailgate curiously wandered into the medbay. Upon seeing the injured Fangry, he paused for a second before walking over to his berth.
"Hello," Fangry greeted, his voice was much softer than the last time Tailgate heard it. "Do you know where I am?"
Tailgate stood near Fangry's berth, surprised that the aggressive Decepticon from the fight with Cyclonus was now being all gentle and sweet.
"Uh... You're inside a medbay on Necroworld..."
"Thank you. The doctor said my memory core was slightly damaged. He said that I was attacked outside and left for dead," Fangry responded.
He didn't seem to remember his fight with Cyclonus or Tailgate beating him up.
Tailgate was quiet for a moment. He didn't know if it was good or bad if Fangry didn't remember what happened earlier. The minibot sat on the corner of the berth to be closer to the Decepticon.
"Your memory core was damaged? Does this mean... You can't remember your own name or any of your past events?"
"I can't remember my name. The last thing I remember, I was on Junkion. Did the Necrobotreallyrescue me?" Fangry questioned.
Tailgate nodded at the question. He took a closer look at Fangry's face, staring deep into his optics.
"Yep. Necrobot, the guardian of this whole planet, brought you with us from Junkion. Guess you were really lucky that he found you and saved you before you were about to meet your end in that junkyard, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess I've gotten lucky twice. The doctor said afterward, my neural cluster was ruptured, but the rest of my processor is mostly intact. I could have been paralyzed, incontinent, and taking energon through a tube," Fangry responded with a soft outvent.
Tailgate grimaced as he listened to Fangry talk. The minibot couldn't fathom what kind of torture it would be to be paralyzed and having to be stuck on a medbay bed all the time just to be fed energon through a tube. Tailgate's soft blue visor dimmed a bit as he felt horrible sympathy for the poor Decepticon.
"I... I'm deeply sorry to hear that, man... That really sucks a lot..."
Tailgate was fascinated by Fangry's soft demeanor. The fact that he was now soft-spoken and docile was such a drastic change from the aggressive Decepticon that wanted a fight with anyone, especially Cyclonus.
"I'm okay now," Fangry responded.
Tailgate continued to sit on the corner of Fangry's berth, his frame now leaning against the wall. He glanced at Fangry's facial injury, the one that was caused by being socked in the jaw by Tailgate himself.
"That's great to hear... By the way, can I ask ya somethin'?"
"Sure, go ahead," Fangry responded.
Tailgate's visor dimmed again. He felt slightly guilty about being the cause of the Decepticon's facial injury. The minibot reached his right servo to lightly and gently touch the area of the injury, his fingertips carefully grazing near the bruised metal.
"Did.. did the doctor say somethin' about who did this to ya...?"
Fangry's faceplate heated up slightly as Tailgate lightly grazed the bruised metal. He was blushing.
"No. And he said nobody has spoken up. I'm glad he found me outside, I was left for dead," Fangry responded.
Tailgate gently traced his finger around the injury, trying hard to ignore the blushing faceplate of the Decepticon sitting beside him. Once again, the minibot's spark felt a strange sensation as he continued to observe the former aggressive, battle-hardened Decepticon, now a sweet and gentle amnesiac.
Tailgate decided not to tell Fangry that he was the one who injured him. Instead, the minibot gently patted the injured area.
"Man... that's rough... Must've been scary..."
"Yeah but it's a scary universe we live in with the war," Fangry responded.
Tailgate realized Fangry didn't remember the war was over. He wondered how Fangry would take the news given his past affiliation, if he even remembered his past affiliation.
Tailgate looked down at his own servos and twiddled his fingers in thought. There was no question that the Decepticon would be absolutely furious if he found out that the Great War had ended. Tailgate knew deep down that he should break the news to Fangry, but he was worried that the news might cause the poor guy to be furious and try to attack him. As much as Tailgate wanted to be honest with the Decepticon sitting next to him, the minibot just couldn't bring himself to tell him the truth.
"So what's your name?" Fangry asked in a friendly tone.
Tailgate stopped fiddling with his fingers and looked up when he heard Fangry's question. He shifted on the berth, getting a bit nervous for some reason. The minibot was caught off guard by the friendly tone in which Fangry spoke, which definitely wasn't familiar to him before. He was so used to the cold, aggressive, and rough attitude of the Decepticon.
"Mm? Oh, m-my name's Tailgate."
"Tailgate. That's a nice name," Fangry responded. "Let me see if I can remember my name."
Fangry's optics flickered in concentration as he scratched his helm with a finger.
"I think I recall it starts with an F?" Fangry questioned.
Tailgate chuckled, watching Fangry's faceplate contort in concentration. It was adorable to see the Decepticon struggling to recall his own name. The minibot nodded as he heard Fangry talking about it starting with an F.
"A name that starts with an F...? Oh, like, uhh, 'Fangry', maybe...?"
Tailgate suggested jokingly, his visors flickering in mischief.
"Ooooh. That sounds kinda scary," Fangry joked obliviously. "Let's just call me Fang for now."
Tailgate laughed again at Fangry's obliviousness. The minibot nodded at the nickname the Decepticon suggested.
"Okay then, uh, Fang, I'll just call you that 'til you remember your real name. I really hope you'll get your memory back, at least that way you can get yourself back together and be like your old, uh, Decepticon self... again..."
"Yeah. No offense but you're not like the typical Decepticon either," Fang responded casually.
Tailgate's visor went wide, surprised by Fangry's assumption that he was a Decepticon. The minibot let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Me a Decepticon? Nah, that's- That's a laugh! I'd never become a Decepticon! I'm an Autobot through and through!"
Fang's optics went wide in surprise.
"OH, I just thought-"
Fang turned his helm away as he tried to process this. He was a Decepticon, he thought, and Tailgate was an Autobot. But he was being treated nice by an Autobot.
"Why are you so nice to me then?" Fang asked.
The minibot noticed that the Decepticon was avoiding his gaze, probably feeling confused at the thought of a good Autobot.
"Uh, just because I'm an Autobot and you're probably a Decepticon, it doesn't automatically mean we're enemies. You were hurt by someone and you're in no shape to fight. So I'm not gonna rough you up or anything like that while you're in the medbay..."
"Thanks. I'm glad," Fang responded as he shifted on the berth while sitting up. "But I think I can get out of the medbay now."
Tailgate was surprised, hearing that the Decepticon wanted to get out of the medbay even though he's still recovering.
"Are you sure you should be getting off the medbay this quickly? I mean, you were really badly injured. Maybe you should rest here for a bit more first before you walk around, y'know..."
Fang got out of the medbay berth.
"I just don't feel like laying here," Fang said as he shuffled away weakly.
Tailgate panicked as he saw how unsteady the Decepticon was as he walked. He quickly got up from the corner and immediately followed Fangry.
"W-Whoa, easy there! You shouldn't be walking around so early like that! You're still weak! You could-"
"I shouldn't be so weak-" Fang bitterly interjected as he leaned against the corridor wall with a servo.
Tailgate stopped walking and took a few steps backwards when Fangry suddenly leaned against the corridor wall. The minibot's visor dimmed as he watched the Decepticon weakly leaning against to support himself.
"Hey, come on... You're just recovering from a really bad injury. Of course, you're still weak. Anybody could be weak at this point after getting hurt this badly. You're not supposed to just go around like nothing happened..."
"I shouldn't have let myself be attacked like that," Fang responded.
Tailgate walked up a step closer to Fangry's side and gently rested an arm on the Decepticon's frame for support.
"You... you shouldn't have?" Tailgate said. "But getting attacked is what you Decepticons do, isn't it? I'm pretty sure you guys love picking fights with the rest of the universe..."
Tailgate continued to keep his arm against Fangry's frame, allowing the Decepticon to lean against him as he helped him to walk carefully down the long corridor.
"Uh, hey... Mind if I ask you a question, Fang?"
"Go ahead," Fang responded.
Tailgate ex-vented softly as he gathered the courage to ask the Decepticon a personal question.
"Umm... Well, I... I was just wondering. Since you're a Decepticon and I'm an Autobot..."
The minibot paused, wondering if he should go on with the question. He took a deep breath.
"Do you... Do you hate me for being an Autobot?"
"...I don't hate you for being an Autobot, but Autobots haven't been nice to me before," Fang answered.
Tailgate's visor dimmed a bit, a pang of guilt running through his spark as he heard Fangry's words.
"Oh, uh, I... I'm sorry to hear that... Autobots haven't been nice to you before..."
The minibot thought about just how many Decepticons his fellow Autobots had torn down and destroyed on the battlefield. Tailgate felt horrible.
"I... I can totally understand why you would think that Autobots aren't nice..."
"I guess that's just war though. I'm sure Decepticons haven't been nice to Autobots at all," Fang said with some resignation.
Tailgate nodded as he listened to what Fangry was saying. The minibot shifted in his position, taking slow, steady steps as he helped the Decepticon walk. He didn't know where they were going, so he just assumed the Decepticon was just wandering around without a destination in mind.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Decepticons haven't been nice to Autobots for sure. Lots of pain and suffering from both sides..."
"Do you...have any stories?" Fang wondered.
Tailgate was surprised when the Decepticon asked about his stories. The minibot ex-vented as he thought about the question. He nodded and began to recount some of his own personal experiences.
"Well... I-I've got a couple of 'em. Uh, like, there was this one time back on Cybertron when I was caught in a cave-in during the Great War..."
"That sounds horrible," Fang responded. He could only imagine being trapped like that.
Tailgate grimaced as he remembered the horrible moment when he was buried alive underground, trapped for six million years before being discovered.
"It was pretty horrible... I was trapped all alone, unable to move or do anything, in a pitch-black hole underground for so long... It's a total nightmare to go through..."
Fang paused.
"Any fun stories?" Fang wondered.
"Uh, there was this time in the middle of this battle when I had this really fun battle with some of my Autobot buddies. We had a pretty badass team of Autobot bots, ya know? So we decided to take on a bunch of Decept... uh, bad guys. There were explosions everywhere, lots of shooting and stuff!"
"Bad guys, huh?" Fang asked. "And then what happened?"
Tailgate chuckled softly as he continued to walk side by side with the former Decepticon, his arm still supporting the other as they wandered the long, empty corridors on the ship.
"Eh, the usual stuff. Explosions here and there, some shouting, lots of shooting, a really big brawl with the De... bad guys. Oh, and I got to punch this one bad guy so hard that I knocked his head clean off his body. It was so badass!"
"Oh wow!" Fang exclaimed.
Tailgate's visor lit up as he remembered the satisfying moment when he was able to bring down the Decepticon with just one punch.
"Heh, yeah! And before I knocked his head off, I even got to deliver this killer line! 'Ask me what I do for a living? 'What?' Same as I do now, dirtwad- waste disposal!'"
"Oh..." Fang looked down at the floor in discomfort.
Tailgate noticed the change in Fangry's demeanor, and he immediately realized that the Decepticon was uncomfortable with the story he was telling. The minibot felt guilty and slightly bad for reminiscing over the thrilling event.
"Uh, hey, are you okay...?"
"AmIwaste?" Fang questioned.
Tailgate's visor dimmed in alarm, realizing that the Decepticon thought that he was talking about him.
"No, no! No, of course not, you're not waste! I wasn't talking about you!"
"I know you were just talking about bad guys but...I am a bad guy," Fang responded.
Tailgate ex-vented as he stopped walking, letting go of his hold around Fangry's frame. He took a step closer to the Decepticon, his visor dimming softly
"You... Yeah, you are a De... bad guy. But that doesn't mean you're waste. You're a... a person, aren't you? You can think and talk just like me. You're... you're not trash... right?"
"I know, you just seemed so thrilled to offline that Decepticon," Fang ex-vented. "I just wondered if you had gotten to talk to that other Decepticon would it have been different. Or if you hadn't been able to talk to me..."
Tailgate lowered his helm, feeling a sense of guilt and shame for being too enthusiastic over the event.
"I'm sorry..."
The minibot ex-vented softly again, his mind racing with thoughts.
"You're... you're right. I was a little thrilled to knock that Decepti... bad guy's head off. And if I was on the other side, it... it probably would've been different. But... I'm talking to you right now, isn't that what matters?"
"Yeah, I guess that's what matters. I'm sorry if I made you feel guilty," Fang responded.
Tailgate sighed softly as he shook his helm.
"Nah, I kinda deserved it. I shouldn't have been too thrilled and enthusiastic about, y'know, offlining a Decepti... bad guy like that. I must have sounded real sick and gruesome to you."
"It's okay, I forgive you."
Fang and Tailgate arrived at the end of the corridor.
"I enjoyed my walk with you."
Tailgate ex-vented, relieved that the Decepticon had forgiven him as they reached the end.
"I... I enjoyed walking around with you, too. Oh, uh, hey, um, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead," Fang responded.
Tailgate shifted in his position, his servos fidgeting nervously as he prepared his question.
"Uh, well, um. This might sound a bit crazy, but... I..."
The minibot ex-vented again, trying to calm down his own feelings.
"I... kinda... enjoy spending time with you, y'know? We just met, but I... I like talking to you, being with you, and all that..."
Tailgate avoided looking up at the Decepticon.
"You're wondering if we could be friends?" Fang questioned.
Tailgate's faceplate heated up a bit as he nodded softly, his servo rubbing the back of his neck.
"Y-yeah, something like that... I... Well, I was just wondering if it's possible for us to just... be friends despite us being from different factions? I mean, we are an Autobot and a Decepticon, after all, but... it never hurts to hang out together as friends, right?"
"Yes, I would like to be friends. It'll be good for us," Fang responded. "For both sides."
Tailgate listened to Fangry's response, feeling a sense of excitement to be friends with the former Decepticon.
"Yeah... it'll be good for both sides. It'll be the first step to a new, better Cybertron..."
The minibot shuffled around in his position, hesitating to ask another question.
"Something else on your processor?" Fang asked.
Tailgate ex-vented softly as he gathered his courage to ask this next question. He shifted in his position again, still avoiding looking directly at the Decepticon.
"Uh, yeah... I'm just curious, but... can I ask you another question? This is kinda a personal one, though."
"Yeah, go ahead," Fang responded.
Tailgate ex-vented again, trying to gather his thoughts as he prepared his question.
"Uh, well, I'm just curious... 'cause you don't remember anything about your past, right? Your old name, who you used to be... that kinda stuff?"
"Yes, that's right," Fang answered.
Tailgate nodded at the response, and then quickly followed with another question, "Do you... feel any differently about the war, y'know, not remembering anything from the past? I mean, you're a Decepticon, and I'm an Autobot, but... are you, um, still, er, you know, on the Decepticon side and all that?"
Fang responded, "Yeah, isn't it ironic that I can't even remember my old name but I can remember I'm a Decepticon? It's encoded in me, I've been a Decepticon longer than I can remember."
Tailgate nodded as he listened to Fangry's reply, his visor dimming softly, trying to process the irony of the situation.
"Yeah... It's kinda odd, ain't it? It's almost like... being a Decepticon is part of who you are, it's... just... in your spark or something. It's encoded into your very being. The war's all you know."
Fang nodded.
Tailgate ex-vented as he looked straight at Fangry, his visor dimmed softly.
"I... I'm gonna confess something, okay? But before I tell you, you... you can't freak out. You can't."
"I promise I won't freak out," Fang responded.
Tailgate ex-vented again, bracing himself for whatever reaction the Decepticon will give.
"Alright... you might not like this, but... the war... the Great War... is over."
Fang's optics widened, his jaw dropped, his lips fell into a frown. The old him would have been extremely skeptical or in a blind rage at this. But without his memories to connect to the Great War, Fang found himself...surprisingly content.
"I guess that means we...I mean the Decepticons...lost."
Fang's shoulders slumped.
Tailgate ex-vented softly as he observed the Decepticon's reaction. He was expecting Fangry to be angry, skeptical, or even in a blind rage. In fact, the minibot was preparing himself for whatever reaction that was supposed to come. But instead, Fangry was just... oddly, unexpectedly calm.
"I... uh... yeah. You... I mean, the Decepticons...lost the war. We... I mean, the Autobots... won."
"I don't remember much of my old life, but I guess that means I can start a new one," Fang said, his servo making its way to Tailgate's servo, their digits entwining.
Tailgate felt his spark skip for a second as Fangry's servo entwined with his own. He looked down at their entwined servos, his faceplate turning into a bright, soft pink tone as he blushed. The minibot couldn't believe that he was able to get the former Decepticon to hold his servos.
"Yeah... you can start a new life for yourself. No more... war, fighting, or death..."
"I'd like that," Fang said with a small smile on his lips as he and Tailgate walked back to the medbay servo-in-servo.
Tailgate was still blushing, his spark fluttering in his chest. He looked down at their servo, still entwined together. It felt... nice, to touch the Decepticon like this, to have his servo wrapped around the other. Tailgate smiled softly as they walked back to medbay.
"I'd like that too..."