Ratchet held the small device that had caused Arcee so much pain within his servos. He could only imagine how it had been implanted, and the scars on her chest plates were only a hideous clue; and the fact removing it had been such hard and delicate work. He sighed as he looked over to her, motionless on the med berth. But alive. His spark had almost ceased itself when she had fallen limp in his arms, but thankfully that had not been her spark extinguishing, but her exhaustion taking over the moment her frame was free of pain, as the signal to the device was blocked of by the anti-detection shields around the Autobot base.
Then the team had returned; with Soundwave. Ratchet now looked over to the med berth beside Arcee; The mech she fallen in love with.
Primus, please let him survive. He prayed silently. Arcee would recover without any problems, but Soundwave...well, he done all he could, but he remained sceptical.
"Are you troubled, old friend?"
Ratchet turned unsurprised to him, before placing the small device down.
"I... I am not confident Soundwave will survive."
" You have done all you can do, And I know not of a better medic." Optimus replied, trying to strengthen his friend's resolve. Ratchet shook his head.
" No. I am powerless. I owe Arcee...and I can not even be certain I can keep the one she loves alive. The one who killed Megatron...." He looked back over to Soundwave, then to Arcee. Every time she found a partner, she lost them. Jack was an exception, but not cybertronian, their own kind. He remembered how she had reacted after Cliffjumper, and earlier, Tailgate. If Soundwave was to leave her, after everything...
"If Soundwave's spark gives out, it will not be only him who we'll lose."
The darkness that came was a comfort to the pain, but something was missing. He was free. From Megatron, from life itself...and yet he was alone. In this strange world, He was a stranger... almost like he wasn't meant to be here...
There was nothing in the darkness, but it did not in still fear. He could feel himself just floating in vast expanse of emptiness, lighter than a feather. Nothing. Looking in all directions, nothing. But there were voices, whispers, so faint that he couldn't discern their words. Soundwave suddenly turned around, sensing a presence behind him. A brilliant light suddenly illuminated the darkness, turning it into a pure white that was as welcoming as the darkness had been....and from that light, came two cybertronian mechs, one he recognised, the other, he didn't.
"Soundwave, it's been a while."
" You...are Cliffjumper.." Soundwave said. " But I do not know you." He gestured to the other mech standing, or rather floating, beside him.
" Name's Tailgate, 'con." The over one answered, but he sounded a little less cocky than Cliffjumper.
"I'm am no longer a decepticon." Soundwave declared. The two mechs exchanged glances, before looking back to Soundwave.
" Tell us something we don't know." Cliffjumper mused. " You know, I never believed in a million years, a 'Con would be the one to kill Megatron. It was always going to be Prime. And here you are."
"Where is here?" Soundwave questioned.
" Somewhere between the living, and the all-spark." Tailgate answered.
" Then...I am dead..." Soundwave thought, as he remembered transpired events. " Arcee..."
" You know, I also never would have imagined you would make her fall for you. I mean, I had a hard time trying just to get her to accept me as a partner, and then, all of a sudden, you appear and she can't live without you." Cliffjumper mused.
Soundwave looked at him quizzically.
" I mean, come on, You? Megatron's right hand man? A decepticon- sorry- former Decepticon? Nah, still can't see it."
" Where is she? Her Spark-"
" And now look at you, you let it all go to your head and you've left her behind. I should slag you right now-"
" I did not leave her behind." Soundwave contested, glaring at Cliffjumper.
" Well you couldn't protect her, could you? We warned her, told her she was making a mistake-"
" SHE has made no mistake. I love her with all my spark. I regret that she had to suffer for my sake, but she will not suffer again, as along as I live-"
" Really? Then why are you here?" Cliffjumper retorted. Soundwave stood in silence. His processors raced to understand his current predicament. Cliffjumper's words turned in his mind, and then it became apparent.
" She's alive..." He said, looking up as though In a daze. Unlike the two before him, he could sense no other spark. Not Arcee's. She wasn't here...
" Took you long enough to figure that one out." Tailgate said, folding his arms
He was right. He had left her behind.
"Arcee's spark Is not one. She lives, and she's waiting for you." Tailgate interrupted.
" My advice, do something for her we could not. Stay with her." He said, with a slight hint of regret in his voice. Cliffjumper also seemed to suddenly adopt a more solemn attitude, but he fought it with a light smile.
" And tell her we'll always be watching over her, even if we disagree about the mech she chooses to be with. But, I guess you aren't a bad guy after all..." Cliffjumper said, who turned to Tailgate who nodded in agreement.
"She's alive....but.. How?"
" You should try listening to your spark, rather than those you turn on." Tailgate added.
" Well, we'll see ya someday. Have a good life, Soundwave, and take care of Arcee."
The two mechs suddenly began to disappear. The light that had arrived with them suddenly left.
" Wait! How do I go back?" Soundwave called out, but the words disappeared to nothing, as the empty darkness returned.
Optimus Prime watched sympathetically, as Arcee sat beside Soundwave. He could see her own tiredness trying to summon her into recharge, but she refused to. She refused to give up. Her Servo stayed entwined with his, a sign of how much he had come to mean to her.
It was a small piece of hope that she could hold on too. Since she had awoken, she hadn't moved form his side, lost in a depression that could only be amended if Soundwave woke up...but he hadn't...and each day pushed the prospect further and further away. And several weeks later, it seemed almost impossible.
Optimus exchange glances with everyone, who stood just outside of the med bay. They were powerless to do anything. Ratchet looked to Optimus.
"Optimus..." he sighed. " I don't believe he will ever wake up."
" Don't say that! He has to!" Jack retorted. Ratchet stood slightly taken aback, but sighed.
" I am sorry Jack. I know you care for Arcee but...Soundwave-"
" Will wake up. I was there when he first told her he loved her, when he kissed her, and he meant it. He killed Megatron. If there's any reason why he should wake up, its Arcee." Jack insisted, looking on, as Arcee sat crouched over beside Soundwave's berth.
" Yeah, the and the dude totally destroyed Megatron! We need to have a party! We can't have a party without the main dude!" Miko said, trying to fight the obvious intrepid emotions that she felt around her.
" Yeah, sounds like fun, right Miko?" Bulkhead said, trying to match her enthusiasm, but failing somewhat.
Optimus looked down, before looking to Arcee, and approaching to come and stand beside her.
"Arcee?"
She didn't look up to him.
" He will wake soon." She said simply. She repeated the same words she had become so familiar with. She hardly spoke anything else, waiting in silence. But they could all see Arcee's own resolve been stretched further and further. Never had she had to wait, all her partners had gone quickly... to wait was agonising. She held Soundwave's servo within her own, hoping that at some point, he would wake up. He had to. Optimus sighed.
" Arcee, this can not go on."
" HE will wake soon." She said, a darker steel laced her voice. Optimus placed a hand on her shoulder, which she didn't shrug off.
" Arcee, I know its hard, but you have to let go." Even though he said the words, that in all logic, made perfect sense, deep down it hurt him. To have to ask so much of a trusted soldier, a friend, was a curse.
" He...He will wake...soon.." Arcee repeated, as tears fell down her faceplates.
Soundwave looked around at nothing. Nothing. A vast emptiness that had no end, beginning, or even middle. How could he find out how to get back without knowing exactly were he was? Was there a door, a sign that said 'this way'? He hung his helm, trying to find logic and sense in an apparent world of nothing.
"Arcee..." He said, listening as her name dissipated. He closed his optics, and just envisioned her, alone. Some how, it caused more pain than he had suffered in his whole life.
" It seems even fate will not allow to be with your precious Arcee, Soundwave."
Soundwave's optics snapped open, as he turned to look. The darkness remained, but before him, in all her glory, was Solarlight. He stood, silent.
" You were always the quiet one." She said, as she began to walk up to him.
" I left your memories behind. I broke our bond. Why are you here?" Soundwave asked, suddenly weary. He could sense a threat coming from her, unspoken but evident. As he looked over her, he still saw Arcee in every move she made.
" It is precisely because of that. I know what you thinking-" She placed a servo on his shoulder, but he pulled away.
" You can't escape... you left the world behind, and now your here, because you inner most secret desire, is me." She said seductively, But Soundwave hardly responded. Instead, he turned, and just began to walk, and see where his steps would take him. Solarlight looked on, as the anger in her spark grew.
"Arcee is nothing. I am your spark mate. You haven't even spark bonded with her, and yet you love her? An Autobot, a piece of scrap-"
" DO not say another word." Soundwave suddenly said, pausing in his tracks. " YOU are not my Spark mate any more. I am no longer a Decepticon." His voice was like iron, and Solarlight recoiled slightly.
" And I Love Arcee, with all my Spark. I will escape this place, if it's the last thing I do." Solarlight suddenly looked hurt, and without warning, she was gone.
" Then I will not allow that to happen." Soundwave turned to the right, and looked on in shock. Megatron appeared, but his frame bared all the scars Soundwave had dealt him, and his armour was covered with energon. Circuitry hung out, tender and wounded
" As Solar light already said, you can not escape." Megatron growled. Soundwave turned to face him head on.
" Try and stop me."
" So be it!" Megatron suddenly ran at him, ready to rip him apart with his own servos. Soundwave just stood there, and closed his optics, holding on to the one thing in this strange world he new was real, and existed- Arcee.
"Optimus...please don't make me do this...I beg you." Arcee said, from out of nowhere. She knew exactly what they were asking of her. She had overheard their conversations, and she knew they no longer believed Soundwave would return.
" Arcee, it is your choice, but we can not stand aside and watch you torment yourself. I, as much as you, wish Soundwave would wake as well." Optimus said, trying to make her understand that none of them wanted this.
"Just a little longer...Please.."
She suddenly jerked in surprise, as Soundwave's frame suddenly convulsed, and then stilled. Arcee looked on in shock, as Ratchet and the others suddenly appeared around the med berth. Ratchet quickly checked Soundwave's stats, and smiled, as he looked down, to see the former Decepticon open his optics.
Soundwave's gaze fell on all of them, until the found the one he was looking for.
" Arcee..."
" Soundwave..." For the first time in weeks, she smiled, as she leant over to embrace him. Soundwave responded by placing his arm around her.
" I..I thought I'd... lost you." She said, unable to hide her tears. As she pulled away, Soundwave held one of her servos.
"And thought I had lost you. I thought you were dead..." He said quietly.
" I hope you can Forgive me for everything- and almost leaving you behind."
Arcee shook her head, as she stroked his helm.
"Don't be a fool." She replied, with a little bit of attitude that was reminiscent of her usual self. " You have nothing to apologise for. You came back. And that's all that matters." She added, smiling. Soundwave smiled tiredly back.
" If anyone should apologise, it is us." Optimus prime announced, as everyone around him nodded in agreement.
"It seems we not only lacked the faith in our own friend, but you as well." Ratchet said. Soundwave shook his helm slowly.
" No. you acted as you would have, to protect Arcee. There is no one at fault." He said, looking over them, and finally landing his gaze upon Optimus Prime. The Prime nodded.
" Then allow me, on behalf of all Cybertronians, to thank-you, for ending Megatron's tyranny." Optimus said, bowing his head slightly in respect, and everyone followed suit. Soundwave nodded in acceptance, and then he turned to look upon Arcee.
" You shouldn't bow your head to anyone." He said, bringing her hand to rest on his chest, above his spark chamber. " It was you, your memory, that gave me the power to stop him."
" But it was you who did it." She replied.
"Yeah, dude, your like a hero! Even though you did kinda try and scrap us that time at the big dish place-"
" Miko!" both Jack and Raphael said in union.
" What?!" Miko said, looking innocent. For the first Soundwave actually looked at the humans, having hardly paid any attention to them before. He smiled, amused by the young females' fearlessness.
" Ignore her. Anyway, I guess we should let you rest." The taller of th two humans said, which he could only assume was Jack, Arcee's human partner. Soundwave just nodded, and everyone left. Silence returned as Arcee and Soundwave were left alone.
" Do you want me to go?" Arcee asked, somewhat mockingly as she already knew the answer.
He smiled at her.
" No. I want you to stay with me." He said, as he pulled her down, and kissed her.
In a sense, the war was over. Megatron was gone, his ship, the Nemesis, in ruins, and the legions of Vehicons were scattered, being hunted down. Knockout had long since disappeared, where, no one quite knew, but it couldn't be good. Optimus Prime had sent out a message, to all Autobots and Decepticons alike, asking for an end to the conflict, with the death of Megatron, and a unanimous effort to restore Cybertron. But that was hardly the expected result, but if it could sway some Decepticons, it was worth it.
"The wars not over." Soundwave said.
Arcee looked over to him from where she was standing, next to the memorial built to Cliffjumper. Since Soundwave had told her about seeing both Cliffjumper and Tailgate, she had never felt so peaceful. To hear that they were watching over her, was than a comfort. She turned to look at her new partner. Finally back at full strength, and wearing the Autobot insignia. For everything they went through, it was worth it.
" Tell me something we don't know." She replied. He smiled at her sarcasm, and walked other to wrap his arms around her waist.
" You do know Ratchet fixed your voice box, right?" She queried, looking up at him.
" Force of habit." He replied simply. Arcee shook her helm.
" The war might not be over, but it is the beginning of the end." Soundwave said, as he looked out to the sunset. Arcee smiled. It seemed strange to think an end was in sight, and that there might be a chance to see a new Cybertron, and live a new life instead that of a soldier.
"And just the beginning for us." She said, turning around, and reaching her own arms around him.
Soundwave nodded, kissing her helm, as he held her close, determined to start a new life,
and never again to fall back into silence.