Cross In The Light ✔️

Ch. 16

Hot Rod POV
Anger fills me as I see Rangeblade lying on the ground, unconscious, and Lightning crying.
"You fragging piece of scrap!!" I yell and kick Crosshairs in the lower area. This hurts but not as much as if Crosshairs was using his holoform. Lightning begs me to stop, telling me this wasn't Crosshairs' doing.|
The others get to us before I continue to fight Crosshairs. Optimus immediately tells me to stop and for Hound to carry Rangeblade back to the property. No one thought we'd need a medkit, but Energon is still leaking from Rangeblade's wounds.

Cade helps Prime and Hound tend to Rangeblade while Drift watches, worried. Crosshairs comforters Lightning, I go for a drive to avoid fighting Crosshairs....for now...

I return three hours later. Rangeblade has been repaired, but it's hard to know when she'll wake up. Both Crosshairs and Drift sit by the barn, displeased. I might be wrong, but Drift and Rangeblade must have been friends when he was a con. As for Crosshairs, what an aft, faking how concerned he is.
"Drop the act!" I yell and kick Crosshairs again. Drift tries to stop me, but I shove him away before dragging Crosshairs away from the barn for a fight.
Come on, let me get one good punch.
Crosshairs wouldn't fight back as a fought him and finally landed a good punch and knocked him out.
"Why don't I just take care of the problem now."
"STOP!" Prime yells as I pull out my gun and aim at Crosshairs' head.
"What the frag is wrong with you?!" Hound asks.
"You should have stayed, or at least let Crosshairs explain before fighting him!" Bee rages.
"What's there to explain?! He hates Rangeblade and hurt her!"
Drift takes Crosshairs to the barn as Lightning explains what happened. Like we didn't need more problems to deal with.

The next day

I didn't think I'd be able to recharge, but I did. I awake to discover Crosshairs and Drift are not in the barn. I figured they both slept in their rooms in the house, but I didn't find their bipedal mode or alt mode near the house. Turns out no one knows where Crosshairs is, and Drift went to Jamie's dimension last night. Crosshairs was around before Drift left. Great, this adds to our problems.
"I'm leaving with Rangeblade when she's healed. This will solve all our problems,"; I tell Prime.
"That's not going to solve anything," Lightning tells me, "Crosshairs will still be pissed at Rangeblade."
"And she'd be safe away from him!" I yell.
"No, there's a right way to deal with this. It will take time. Taking Rangeblade away won't solve everything. Do you think she'd be happy to know you left the team?"
"Crosshairs is already being punished enough," Bee reminds me.
"It's kinda my fault," Lightning informs me, "I was so afraid we couldn't help Rangeblade, and you know the rest."
Ouch, Bee is right.

Crosshairs POV
This wouldn't have happened if Rangeblade didn't think running off and harming herself was her only answer. I don't know what to do. Hot Rod will fight me if I return to the property, and Rangeblade may go further; instead of harming herself, she might try to offline herself. I think I got my punishment.
What a cruel universe we live in. My sister is back, but in return, friendships have ended.
All I wanted to do was protect her; instead, I've doubted her. I don't know what to do. Hot Rod will fight me if I go back to the property.

Lightning POV
Four days have passed, and Crosshairs isn't back. Optimus insists I leave Crosshairs alone, but I can't nor can Drift.
"I will fight him if he comes back," Hot Rod threatens.
"You will not fight him. He's been punished enough," I tell him before walking towards the woods. I know Crosshairs went a different direction than we went to find Rangeblade.

I walk an hour before finding Crosshairs sitting by a river. I sit on the large boulder beside him. Listening to the river's water flow and the birds talking, waiting for Crosshairs to say something.

A long five minutes pass before Crosshairs finally speaks.
"Is-is she awake?"
"No," I tell him in a sad tone.
"I'm sorry this is my fault. If I trusted your judgment and tried to get along with her-."
"It's ok; I know you just want to protect the team. She'll be ok once she wakes up....at least physically."
Crosshairs is taking the first step towards trusting Rangeblade, but I doubt his anger has ceased, and he'll be like the others, not trusting Rangeblade completely but attempting to spend time with her rather than avoiding her., I think this is a temporary concern for Rangeblade. Perhaps he's not thinking about killing Rangeblade, but still wants her away from us. This is still very complicated.
"I can't go back; Hot Rod wants to fight me, the others likely hate me, and Rangeblade..."
"Hot Rod is the only one still mad at you. Drift and Prime are worried about you. You need to come back, please."
"This isn't the solution, Crosshairs," Prime adds as he stands by the boulder. Turns out everyone but Hot Rod is worried about him. They didn't think I could get Crosshairs to come back, and I think they're right.