[Fic] Story of a Lifetime, part 19.2
Part 19 - The end and the beginning
Chapter 2 of 5
Jazz shook his head in exasperation as he finally felt the increase in feedback through the bond which told him Prowl was physically near. He had been looking for his partner for quite awhile now, surprised that it had been so difficult to locate him on this mid-sized ship. Not on the bridge with Prime, not in their quarters resting, not even in his on-board office doing some extra bit of work that had belatedly occurred to him. Not even in the recreational spaces celebrating with the others - not that that had ever been all that likely. This option was the last place Jazz had thought of trying but as he opened the door he finally saw his partner in the tactical planning room.
"Heya babe, whatcha doin' in here of all places?"
All of the main screens were completely clear. There were no plans underway, no tactical data feeding into them about enemy movements; nor should there be, now.
Prowl did not acknowledge his question, so he moved closer and stood beside him to look at the panel that held Prowl's attention. It showed the route from Ovacalix to Cybertron, the very one they were currently travelling.
"Prowler?" he prompted again.
Prowl stirred unhappily without looking up.
"Something's wrong."
Jazz's own gaze snapped back to the board and scanned the route. Nothing was out of place.
"Looks okay to me." he ventured after a moment.
Prowl's doorwings flicked in irritation, his entire posture tense.
"I know. I can't see the problem. I can't see it. I've been going through all the telemetry for groons and I still can't see it."
Jazz frowned.
"What makes you so sure there's somethin' to worry about then? You were happy enough wit'everythin' when we left Ovacalix."
Prowl turned to him, his expression uncommonly anxious.
"I don't know. But I can't shake the feeling something awful is going to happen. I failed with Luciana, I failed at Iacon and with Syrenex: I won't fail here."
Jazz shivered a little as Prowl's agitation slipped through the bond to him.
"I'll put some o'mine onto alert." he promised. If anyone's gonna see somethin' it'll be them. Have you asked Smokey or Breaker to look over the data too?"
Prowl grimaced.
"Several times. Trailbreaker is now convinced I am paranoid, and Smokescreen attempted to counsel me on denial."
"Denial?" Jazz asked, watching Prowl's doorwings rise sharply in indignation.
"He believes I wish to prolong the war because that is where I feel most useful." Prowl replied stiffly. "The entire idea is ridiculous, but he is insistent I am looking for trouble out of fear of losing my position, particularly after the misunderstanding with Ultra Magnus." He faltered. "Am I, Jazz? Could that really be true?"
"You've worked hard t'get us to this point, Sparkles." Jazz assured him.
"But he's right. Once the war is over, the need for a battle tactician will be ended. Maybe unconsciously I fear this change..."
"Prime's already said he wants to keep you on as his primary advisor." Jazz reminded him. "You're not just a tac-comp. You have other skills."
"Yes, but..."
"And," Jazz overrode him, putting his hands on Prowl's hips, "if nothin' else, you have me. An' it'd suit me jus' fine if you had nothin' better t'do than spend time wit'me."
Prowl smiled weakly.
"I'd go insane."
"Mm, but what a way to go." Jazz smirked, leaning in to kiss him.
Prowl accepted the gesture, neither deepening it nor pulling away, and some of the tension seemed to seep away from him.
"We should go back to our quarters if you're in that mood." Prowl muttered when they parted.
"Like anyone's gonna walk in on us now, or like I'd even care if they did." Jazz snorted. "Everyone thinks this whole deck's empty, anyway, that's why it took me this long t'find ya. B'sides, this might be our last chance t'defile your workin' space. I heard they're gonna strip all the warships once we dock t'show the war's really over."
Prowl pulled away abruptly and Jazz sighed. He should have known better than to expect to persuade his partner that easily. But to his surprise Prowl simply locked the door and returned to his arms.
"Really?" he checked.
"Convince me everything's okay?" Prowl begged, tucking his head under Jazz's chin. "Make me believe it?"
"Sparkles..." Jazz began uneasily, disturbed by his partner's odd mood.
"Share your spark with me. Show me everything's okay. Please, Jazz, I need this. Help me?"
"I'm going to tell him." Bluestreak announced, the statement totally unrelated to anything they had discussed before this latest round of personal celebration, but Sunstreaker knew immediately what he was referring to and knew that his twin did too.
"We know." Sideswipe reminded him, pulling him closer for another kiss. "We already organised this. When we land we're going to go out and watch the official ceremony then we're going to camp out on the steps up to the hub until he heads up there. We already know that's the first thing he's going to do, so it won't take long."
"No." Bluestreak shook his head. "I mean I'm going to tell him. I've been thinking about it and it's just not right. I need to tell him first, on my own. I need to ask him if he'll stand in for my mentor."
"He's not going to say no." Sunstreaker pointed out, idly stroking one of his lover's wide sensor panels.
"He might." Bluestreak fretted. "His own relationship with Jazz probably wasn't approved. I don't think it was priest-witnessed, and that's bad fortune..."
"You don't really care about that, do you Blue?" Sideswipe asked, surprised, and Sunstreaker paused in his ministrations to watch the Praxian too.
"No of course not." Bluestreak assured them with a smile. "But he might. I still don't know which sector of Praxus he's from or what faith denomination, but some took that really seriously. I don't want to upset him, but I really do want him there when we make our pledges, and with all the priests gone the best we can do is do it in front of Prime which is going to be stressful enough, but if Prowl can be with me it'll be just perfect and I just need him to see that."
"But if he thinks it's bad luck, what difference does it make if you ask him alone or with us?" Sunstreaker asked, feeling a bit put out.
"Yeah." Sideswipe frowned. "We knew him before you did."
Bluestreak pulled them both into a hug.
"You know I adore you both. But this is a Praxian thing. It was okay while the war was on, but now we're going home I just... I want to do this right. For all of us. Okay?"
"But I wanted to see his face when you told him." Sideswipe whined.
"He'll probably just crash." Sunstreaker predicted. "You know what that looks like."
"Please?" Bluestreak begged.
"Okay." Sideswipe relented. "You can tell him. But only that you want him to be there when we do the formal sparkmate stuff. And you promise that we get to be there when you tell him how soon you want to have a sparkling."
Bluestreak laughed and kissed them in turn.
"Deal."
Prowl flinched slightly as Jazz hugged him from behind but kept his gaze fixed on the main screen, not daring to look away for even a click in case he missed something vital.
Sharing with Jazz had helped temporarily, had made him feel whole again and the worry had receded enough for him to shoo his partner away to join some of the parties underway, content enough to relax and try to get some charge. But he had charged poorly and roused with a sense of strong alarm, compelled to run all the way from his quarters back to the bridge to check that everything was still okay. It was, there was still nothing to concern anyone, and yet the calm did nothing to dispel his certainty.
Something was wrong.
As they now approached Iacon, the bridge was crowded and noisy. Optimus was standing with Elita and Ultra Magnus; Ironhide and Chromia were chattering loudly and lewdly about their plans of how they were going to spend the next few orns; Springer and Kup were discussing an exploratory mission they wanted to lead to search for others who might not yet have heard about Megatron's defeat. Elsewhere the parties continued, and that was where Jazz had been most recently: Prowl could smell the fumes of high grade and refined oil on him.
The scents just made him feel queasy.
"You're so tense." Jazz murmured. "Relax. We're nearly here an' nothin's happened."
"It's worse." he whispered back. "The closer we get, the worse it is. I feel like I'm going to lose you."
Jazz's arms tightened around him.
"I'm right here, an' I ain't goin' nowhere."
"Don't let go."
He could feel Jazz's confusion, but he could not explain any better than he already had. The feelings were becoming overwhelming. Something dreadful was going to happen and it would separate him from Jazz and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It made no sense, there was no evidence, but the certainty remained.
"Don't let go." he repeated anxiously.
"I won't." Jazz assured him, arms tightening protectively around him, but it was not enough.
Time was running out and he had no idea how to stop it.
Sideswipe cheered along with the others as Optimus finally appeared and started to descend the ramp. Elita-1 walked at his side, and behind them were Chromia and Ironhide, Ultra Magnus and Kup, and Prowl and Jazz. Ratchet was supposed to be there too but he had stated categorically that he had better things to do than stand around on ceremony and had headed for the nearest bar as soon as they landed, taking much of the crew with him.
Optimus kept his speech mercifully short and the crowd cheered again. He hugged Elita to his side, and behind them Chromia grabbed Ironhide and kissed him passionately drawing even more attention from the crowd.
Sideswipe was about to turn away when he saw Prowl stumble and Jazz reach out to him. The movement was out of place but no-one else seemed to have noticed. Prowl was clinging to Jazz's arm with one hand, the other going to his helm, and Sideswipe began to smile. Prowl was glitching now?
But then his smile faded. Jazz was taking this far too seriously, grabbing at him as he sank to his knees. On the few occasions Sideswipe had seen a freeze take him, Prowl had just stopped moving completely. Right now he was curling over as though in pain, which meant it was something very different. Something very wrong.
Others began to notice. Ultra Magnus took a step towards them and Optimus turned. Springer raised a hand to call someone closer. Sideswipe's view was blocked by the others around him now that Prowl was down on the ground, and he tried to squeeze his way forward for a better perspective but it was difficult. Then someone yelled for a medic and the cheering turned to a babble of confusion and concern.
/Sunny! Prowl's hurt!/
/I saw. Someone said it was a Decepticon, but I didn't see anyone. Did you?/
/If it is, they's going to suffer - peace or no peace./
/Get to Blue, make sure he's okay. I'm going to find some ammo. We need to be ready./
/Will do. Shout out if you find anything./
/Like I need the help./
/Bro, I'm warning you now: you don't call me to join in the fun if you find some and I'm going to be seriously mad about it./
"Ratchet!" Optimus bellowed, then waved at the confused crowd. "Let him through!"
~What's happening?~ Ratchet demanded, shoving at those in his way and trying to get to the centre of the throng.
~Unknown.~ Optimus shifted to the same method of communication since verbal discussion was impossible through the noise. ~He seemed fine right up until the moment he collapsed.~
"Everybody move back!" Ironhide roared at the crowd. "Let the medics through!"
It had little effect. The crowd was too large and too agitated. Those at the front had nowhere to go and those behind did not realise that they were the problem as they tried to establish what was going on.
Finally shoving past the last of the onlookers, he found Prowl down on the ground in an uncoordinated heap. Jazz was cradling him close, anxiously watching Top Spin who was kneeling in front of them and using a handheld scanner to run a diagnostic.
"Well?" Ratchet barked at the Wrecker medtech even as he initiated his own scans.
"I can't find the source." Top Spin admitted, readily moving aside. "His systems are shutting down like he's got a primary fault but I can't find a mark on him. No leaks, no viruses. No reasons."
Ratchet grunted, his own investigation reaching the same conclusion but with an added piece of data that changed his initial assessment of 'serious' to 'critical': Prowl's damaged spark was too weak to sustain this level of stress for long at all. Casting about he spotted another of the Wreckers standing nearby, just what he needed.
"You! Whirl! Transform. I need to get him to a clinic now and we'll never make it across the ground. Top Spin - go with them and keep scanning. Send me updates every five clicks."
~First Aid!~ he called simultaneously.
~On my way.~
~Stop. Get Blades to extract you and get back to the Iacon clinic as fast as you can and set up a life support system. I'll get him there but we won't have much time.~
Seeing Top Spin was ready, he crouched down and forced himself to speak slowly and gently.
"Jazz, we neeed to move him."
"I'm stayin' with him."
He wanted to snarl at that but the argument would only waste more time. Jazz was simply responding the same way any bondmate would. He could probably even feel the danger in his own spark, and the only consolation was that unlike Ratchet Jazz could not yet know how serious it truly was.
"Whirl can't carry both of you and Top Spin at the same time. We'll meet him there."
Jazz shook his head tightly.
"He's fadin' on me, Ratch. If I let him go... I can't let him go... I promised I wouldn't..."
"I can save him." Ratchet promised brazenly. "I can save him but you have to let him go now. You hear me? Every passing click makes it more dangerous. Now let Top Spin take him and we'll go."
Jazz paused for an agonisingly long three clicks, then rose and lifted Prowl's insensate form up and into Whirl. The copter took off immediately and headed straight for the clinic. Ratchet did not watch him go.
"Prime!" he called as he rose. "I need a path cleared to the clinic."
He turned and took a moment to squeeze Jazz's arm comfortingly.
"We'll sort this. The war's only just ended and I'm not losing anyone now."
Jazz nodded shakily and transformed and they both headed down the path being cleared quickly and yet still all too slowly by Optimus and Ironhide and Ultra Magnus.
He just wished there was some way to convince himself.