Unrequited

Chapter 63: Blessing or a Curse?

Author's Note:

/denotes internal thoughts/

''denotes flashback conversation''

::denotes comm link conversation::

Rachet P.O.V

The sound of the plane's engines thrumming as we wing our way back towards Diego Garcia, play a small role in calming my agitated spark. A steady, rhythmic sound that helps to distract me from the maelstrom that rages inside me.

/Optimus is dead/.

Our Prime, our leader, our friend. Gone.

It does not seem real. Yet, as I sit silently inside the belly of the massive aircraft, surrounded by my fellow Autobots and some of the N.E.S.T soldiers, there is one presence that is noticeably absent. The one figure that always brought comfort and strength is missing. He's not here among his team where he belongs. He is laying in the other plane that flies alongside us, silent and still.

/Optimus is dead/.

Perhaps if I keep saying it over and over, it might start to sink in? Yet each time I hear myself say the words, it sounds ridiculous, impossible! Millions of years fighting by his side, patching him up, working on him tirelessly and fearfully at all hours of the cycle as his life hung in the balance but – he always pulled through, always!

I felt the smallest of smiles tug at the corner of my dermas as I recalled some of his closer shaves. His battle with Megatron nearly two years ago on this pit forsaken planet for one. /We nearly lost him then!/. If it hadn't been for Sam....

My spark clenches painfully within me. This time, there was nothing Sam could have done to save him. /And I doubt Prime would have let him anyway if it meant he might be in harm's way. Stubborn slagger!/. He should have known better. He should never have separated from Ironhide and the rest of us. /Four on one. Two of which were Megatron and Starscream! What was he thinking?/.

I only just managed to stifle a snort of irritation and frustration. Prime had been tough, as tough as they came. He had been a seasoned, highly skilled warrior with millennia of experience. If any Autobot could have engaged with those 'Cons in that situation and walked away from it, it was Prime. /And yet - he didn't/. Once again, the realisation that he is gone slams into me full force and I sit lower on my axels, forcing a small groan of metal on metal in protest.

The thought of leaving the humans to their own devices, enters my processor once more. We have sacrificed so much for their species already and now we have lost our Prime protecting them. /It would be no less than they deserve, especially after Prime was so dishonorably treated by that Galloway fool/.

''But that is not what Optimus would want.'' Ironhide's voice drifted through my processor to seemingly censure me again in Prime's absence. /Indeed, it is not/. Even though there are many fools amongst the humans like that arrogant Galloway, Optimus would stay and fight to protect the many others that aren't like him. He would protect those who could not do so for themselves, and he would especially stand his ground and fight to defend those he cared for. /Those he loved/. Immediately my thoughts turned to one soul in particular.

/Orianna/.

How must she be feeling? To know Prime is dead is one thing, to have watched it happen is another entirely. Knowing how keenly I felt Prime's loss, I cannot begin to imagine what Orianna must be feeling right now. My spark ached for her and while I grieved for myself and the friend and leader I had lost, a small part of my soul grieved for Orianna too and what she had lost.