To Have a Spark
Voice of the Titan
"Death is a mighty uniter
The defeat that comes to every fighter
Live on! The dawn will be brighter
Live on, live on."
-Rawlins Cross; Long Night
"Please. With me."
Three seconds.
"You will not be alone."
Two seconds.
"Awaken!"
One second.
"Now!"
s=
Ratchet jumped back a little. Optimus Prime sat up with a start. Both servos came to his face, rubbing down in a slow yet ferocious move. He felt very, very old at that moment, yet it passed quickly as the patch ended. He barely felt Ratchet detach the cord. Optics flickered to the human occupying the bed beside his own and he was rewarded with dark eyelids fluttering open. The Prime managed to smile, forgetting that this human couldn't see him.
"Hi there," June appeared at Renalt's side.
"Len..?" The whisper was uncertain, laced with the remnants of both the patch and an induced slumber that would wear off in but a short time.
"I am here," The Prime didn't choose to stand up right then. Rather, he carefully lowered himself down to the floor, coming to sit on his knees beside the human. Optimus didn't touch him yet, instead watching in silence as Ratchet put the patch tools away.
"D'you know where you are?" June had that professional tone in her voice. The Prime sat quietly, watching the two humans. He wondered privately how they would break it to their patient, how they would tell him too many things that would deem an ordinary man insane.
"I'm...I'm not on that cliff, am I?" Renalt's voice was a smooth tenor, made a little strange by the accent in his speech. It was a queer blend of British English, Canadian roundness of intonation lightened by sing-song Welsh influences. Strange indeed, but one could expect no less from a teenager who lived the life of an army brat in a melting pot of a nation.
"No, you're not. Someone saw you," the nurse responded.
"Len? I heard Len."
"I am here," With a glance of approval from June and Ratchet, the Prime lowered a hand. Fingers slid beneath Renalt, lending a touch of help to sit himself up. As such, he knew the second the boy stiffened at the touch. Renalt's brow furrowed. Since when could anyone sit against a metal hand?
"What the? Len, what's this thing?"
"This is my hand, Renalt. Please, let the physicians have a look at you. Then, I will answer any questions you have."
"Physicians...plural. Wait. I know you, Doctor Darbe," Renalt's head briefly turned to his right, toward where he'd last heard June's voice. His odd pronunciation of her name made her crack a smile.
"Nurse Darby, actually. I have a colleague."
"That would be me. I'm Ratchet," the Autobot medic made himself known directly behind Renalt, but again, the voice somehow towered above him.
"Wait. My hearing's gone bonkers."
"No, it has not. It's a very, very long story. In the immediate: No, you're not on the cliff. You did something incredibly foolish and thank God someone saw you. Rather, thank the All-Spark we saw you," June cut in.
"We will explain in due time. For now, Nurse Darby, Op – er... Leonard. I suggest we retire for the night. Primus knows we need it. Agreed?" Ratchet's curious vocal fry wasn't the only thing Renalt caught.
"Agreed. Now please, calm yourself, Renalt Carwyn Haakon. It is I, Leonard," Optimus' voice dropped yet another level; any lower and he'd be whispering. If one of his size could actually whisper.
"Why are you mispronouncing my name again?"
"Is Renalt Carwyn Haakon not your name?"
"You're - "
Prime cut him off, not about to hear another word of denial. "Shall I lift you?"
"What are you - " Renalt yelped, his words cut off not by a reply this time, but by the sensation of indeed, being lifted. His legs dangled over the edge of what felt like for all the world like a hand. An enormous hand, whose index finger half-wrapped around him and whose smallest two fingers he now sat upon.
"Now. Will you listen to me?" the Prime's whisper was gone, replaced by a stern tone that brooked no contest. It was the sort of tone that, as June heard it and reflected, could not be disobeyed by anyone. Renalt fell silent then, caught somewhere between confusion, a little fear, and awe at what he felt and heard around him.
The Prime began again, holding the human up in front of his face.
"I am Leonard, as I have told you many times now. I will explain in due time why I am...how I am. What happens now, is that you must take a new oath. One more binding than the last. This will require two rules from you: One, that you do as I ask you. And two, that you please, trust me."
At that, it was discovered that Miko Nakadai and Arcee wer no longer the only ones brave enough, or stupid enough, to directly confront the Prime.
"Just who are you? Leonard, we were once equals. Sworn brothers that'd go out back to back. You were the one that promised – " Renalt's sharp words cut off yet again. Optimus Prime's voice issued a low rumble, one that surely noted displeasure. At this moment, Optimus Prime was not in a mood to be contested. To him, he had a life to save, and that meant setting a mind on straight.
"Silence!"
A full minute of quiet passed before he spoke again.
"The rules have changed. Events have arisen that required this change. I know your loyalty is unshakable. Unshakable to the point of absolute folly! The rules have changed. Are you willing to accept these changes? Are you willing to renew the vow?"
"What...what have you turned into? Len, why am I in a crane?" Renalt trembled a little; hands cautiously investigating the hand that held him.
"That is my hand, Renalt. I said as much."
"Your...hand? But that's not possible."
"It is, Renalt. Be still. I am going to sit down with you," Optimus took a softer tone again. Although he was already seated upon the floor, his hand lowered, coming to rest on a knee as he moved to take a cross-legged pose.
June spoke up then. She was going by the seat of her pants and she knew it, but being a trained nurse as she was, the woman performed admirably.
"Renalt, listen. There have been changes... Leonard did get dengue fever, and yes, before you ask, he was reported dead. What you've got now is...him. He's here, but not in human flesh and blood. He's been...reborn."
"Do you not believe in the concept of reincarnation? Resurrection?" Prime almost-whispered a few words, hoping to avoid the pitfall of a long silence that signalled uncertainty.
"I...I do," Renalt's hesitant response was better than nothing. His mind slowly shuffled off the cobwebs of induced sleep and the purging of what he'd poisoned himself with. The poison hadn't failed; it had been removed from him. That much was easily deduced. Yet more questions arose from that one answer.
"Do you understand what has transpired?" Optimus glanced from June to Ratchet and back again.
"I do not. No one knew I was up there."
"I did. I saw you commit a foolish act. I could not allow it."
"You were dead...are dead..." He felt one of the metallic fingers touch his face, as if to rub away a tear.
"I am right here."
"What...What colour are your eyes?"
It was an ordinary question on the surface. Renalt would never understand colour beyond mere words and that strange world of a synaesthete. He never could comprehend the concept of colour except through the words which described nothing to him. Yet one word, one colour-designation had meaning to him. He felt the giant hand lift him again. His own hands extended, reaching out. It wasn't a common act amongst the blind – it was an act trained out at childhood, taught as impolite. Taught as uncouth, as invasive. Renalt forgot such lessons for this moment. Leonard was clearly not human. He was massive, metallic. So what had become of him? The urge to find out easily overwhelmed trained behaviour.
As his hands met a smooth, yet very metallic, face, Renalt heard the answer. He found before him something – someone – utterly alien to what he knew. Someone easily described as Titan, or Nephilim, yet robotic? Mechanical? His right hand went further up, to the scar-like lines etched below this being's optics.
Optimus almost-smiled in his subdued way as he allowed the human hands to explore his face. It felt...strange to have this done to him. It drove home the idea that sight wasn't an option here. He didn't blink as the hands found his faint etchings below the optics.
Ratchet hid his own emotion behind a re-calibration of his medical screens. June stepped back, a quiet observer once more.
"They are blue."