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Bumblebee always claimed to be the fastest thing on wheels. Unfortunately, that also meant that his brain was usually coming up with another stupid idea before he could think about the consequences. Slag, just earlier today Optimus had been telling him to use his processors before his thrusters. A lesson he obviously should have listened to. Right now, he was wholeheartedly wishing that he had taken a little more time to think his plan to launch the Destronium into orbit through. With the help of his team and the rocket boosters that Sari had given him, he had managed to reach the outer atmosphere and send the chemical out into the emptiness of space where it could explode without hurting anyone. Well, anyone but him. Now, he was in a terrifying predicament.
I really should have thought about the return trip, he thought to himself as he started falling back towards the Earth’s surface. The force of the Destronium explosion had sent him hurtling back towards the planet at a gut-twisting speed. As he spun through the air uncontrollably he found himself wishing that he had a flight-mode like the Decepticons, or at least a parachute. As if that would help, he thought. It would have melted almost instantly from the heat he was generating from his re-entry. Bumblebee winced as he started to feel the pain of the heat. Looking at his servos, he found that they were melting rapidly and fusing themselves together.
“Frag, frag, frag!” Bumblebee hissed.
The heat was too much. He curled his burning body in on itself as much as he could and tried to keep his more fragile body parts shielded from the intense temperatures. His metal plating was turning redder and redder as he continued to heat up. He was almost certain he could feel his battle mask melting on his face. Primus, he didn’t want to think about what would happen once he reached the ground. Would that be the end of him? Would he go offline? It seemed almost guaranteed at this point; there was no slowing down, and there was no way to stop. He didn’t even die in battle, how humiliating! At least he would have died with some sort of dignity, fighting the enemy and dying for the Autobot cause.
Well, he thought to himself, at least I’ll go offline protecting Earth. That had to count for something, right? His thoughts turned to his team, his friends. Would they miss him? Bulkhead would for sure, they had been friends for stellar cycles now. Prowl and Ratchet might enjoy the quiet that would come with his absence. Bumblebee hoped that Prime wouldn’t blame himself for what would happen, he had a habit of doing that. And Sari… Bee’s spark ached as he thought of the little organic. She had called him her best friend. He hoped that Bulkhead would be able to fill the gap he would leave behind. He would miss racing around the city with her and learning about humans. He would miss playing video games with her and Bulk and pulling pranks on the other bots.
“Sari, I’m so sorry” He whispered, pulling his knees closer against his chest. He could feel the leaking from his eyes evaporating immediately on his burning cheeks.
He must have reached terminal velocity by now. The Earth loomed up at him, approaching at an absolutely sickening speed. Bee found himself apologizing to every member on his team. His team. His team. Bee reached up to his helm and tried to activate his comm. He needed to say sorry, he needed to apologize, he needed to hear someone’s voice. He needed to hear something other than his own thoughts before he crashed into the Earth’s surface. The screech of static was the only thing that greeted him. Bee sobbed, the things that Sari called tears spilling from his eyes and evaporating immediately in the burning heat. He was on fire. He could feel his knees fusing to his chest, and his arms around his stabilizing servos. It felt like the energon in his fuel lines was boiling and evaporating. He prayed to Primus that Sari wouldn’t see what he looked like after re-entry. He hoped he went offline immediately after he hit the ground, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand the pain. In his visuals, all sorts of warnings and notifications were popping up and screaming at him.
Warning: Imminent collision in T-minus 40 nanoclicks.
Warning: Extensive exterior damage. Affecting: Servos, Stabilizers, Optics-
Bumblebee dismissed all of the warnings. It didn’t matter anyway, he would be dead in seconds. He recognized the skyline of Detroit rushing towards him, and he found himself praying to Primus that whatever afterlife there was would be more merciful to him than life ever had been.
I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I-
He saw the ground. He saw his team. His team. Bee’s spark surged at the sight of them. Ratchet and Optimus were reaching out, and Prime was shouting something about slowing him down and cooling him down. That sounded really nice, but it was too late. He felt Ratchet’s magnetizers catch him, and Prime’s coolant rushing over him, but a second later he crashed into the hard earth.
“Bumblebee!” That sounded like Sari.
Bumblebee had never, in all his stellar cycles, been in this much pain before. He had never felt so horrible. He wished that he had offlined on impact. Did Primus hate him or something? The pain was too much. It was unbearable. He wanted to die just to escape this excruciating pain. The warnings popped back into his visuals, but this time there were twice as many.
Warning: Fuel lines damaged. Energon levels at 15% and dropping rapidly.
Warning: Extensive exterior damage to entire form. Seek medical assistance immediately.
Warning: Extensive interior damage to all systems. Mandatory stasis will be enacted in T-minus 3 clicks.
He dismissed the warnings. Bee tried to call out, he tried to move, but he found that he couldn’t do a thing. One of his optics had smashed into the ground upon impact, and was now completely offline. He was pretty sure half of his face was dented in. At least, that’s what it felt like anyways. Bee blearily tried to look around with his good optic, energon running down his face and blurring his vision. His was lying in a pool of his own energon. His form had fused together into a fetal position, and now he couldn’t move. He was in the bottom of a sizable crater, still smoking from his rapid descent. Optimus appeared at the edge of the crater, his face the most scared Bumblebee had ever seen.
“Bumblebee!” Optimus slid down the sides of the crater effortlessly and knelt next to the crumpled bot. “Ratchet! Ratchet!” He yelled. He turned away from Bee for a moment, and yelled at Bulkhead to keep Sari away from the pit. Bee understood. He couldn’t see himself, but he knew that he must look horrible. He must look like a pile of scrap metal. A pile of scrap metal that was bleeding profusely.
“You’ll be okay, Bee, just hang in there.” Optimus reached out and peeled one of Bee’s servos off of his body. He held it gently, and looked at Bee almost desperately. “You’re gonna be okay, Ratchet will take care of you.” He sounded almost as if he was trying to reassure himself with the words he spoke. “I’m going to lift you up, and take you to Ratchet now. We might need to go to the base,”
Bee blinked his working optic, and stared at the bigger bot. Optimus reached out, hands shaking violently, and scooped the small bot into his arms. The pain was excruciating. Bee cracked his mouth open and tried to scream. All that came out was static, a shrill whistling sound, and then more static. Optimus looked ill.
“I’m so sorry, Bee. I’m so sorry.” He raced up the side of the pit and ran to Ratchet. Ratchet and Bulkhead both gasped audibly, and Prowl cried out in horror. Bee turned his head slightly to try and find them. Prowl had one hand over his mouth, and he took an involuntary step back. Ratchet, however, stepped forward immediately and began scanning him. Bee felt one of Ratchet’s cool servos rest on his chassis over his spark, and another on his helm. Ratchet quickly accessed Bee’s display history so he could see the warnings that Bee’s body had been giving him. He connected to the database so he would continue getting the notifications that Bee’s body sent out. A few yards away, Bulkhead was bending down, holding someone back. Bee heard Sari’s voice cry out, I wanna see him! He’s my friend! I can help!
Bulkhead stared at Bumblebee, whose face was almost unrecognizable from the impact and his battle mask melding into his face, his face heartbroken. “Trust me, kid. You don’t wanna see this.”
“His energon levels are too low, and the damage is too extensive for me to fix here without the proper tools. We need to get to the base. Now!” Ratchet transformed into his ambulance mode and opened his doors. “Put him in!” He yelled at Optimus. Optimus shifted Bee in his arms and placed him gingerly into the back of the ambulance. Bee wailed, and Optimus winced. Bee stared at the blurry form of Optimus. His chassis, arms, and servos were covered in energon.
“Hang on, Bee. You’re gonna be okay.”
“He won’t be if you take any longer! Move it!” Ratchet hollered. “Bulkhead, bring Sari, we need her and her key.”
The doors closed, and Bee was left in the merciful darkness that didn’t hurt his optics. Ratchet was off like a shot, breaking every known human traffic rule, Bee was sure. He would have laughed and made a joke about Ratchet being the new fastest thing on wheels if he was able to speak. Ratchet went over a bump, and Bee felt his back slam into the stretcher. His mangled voice box let out a shriek, and Bee writhed in pain.
“Sorry, kid, but I can’t slow down.” Ratchet’s gruff voice reached Bee’s damaged audial sensors. His voice was quiet, almost fearful. That made no sense, Ratchet was never scared. Bee blinked and tried to shake the foggy feeling in his processor away. Everything around him was getting quieter, and he felt like he was drifting away into stasis.
Warning: Energon levels at 4%. Nearing permanent stasis. Enter stasis?
“No! Do not, do not, do not enter stasis!” Ratchet sounded terrified, and Bee was scared back awake. “Don’t do that!” The medic flew around a curve, and then again around another one. Bee was half-convinced that Ratchet’s wheels weren’t even touching the ground at this point. The ambulance turned once more, and then came to a screeching halt. The ambulance doors popped open, and Optimus’s strong arms reached in and pulled Bee out gently. They were still blue from spilled energon. Bumblebee screeched in pain, and squinted in the sudden brightness of the sunlight.
“I know, I know, I’m so sorry, Bee.” Optimus was sprinting after Ratchet. “Prowl! Help Ratchet get the table ready!” The ninja bot dashed by and was gone. Behind them, Bee was pretty sure he heard Bulk’s voice talking to Sari. Bee felt himself being placed down on the medical table, and above him the big operating light flashed on. His voice box squealed, and Bee closed his active optic shut tight.
“The light is bothering his optics, er, optic. Can we turn it off?” Prowl’s voice reached Bee’s audial sensors.
“No, I need it.” Ratchet’s usually gruff voice shook a little bit. “I need to saw him open.”
“What?!”
“Ratchet, what are you talking about?”
“Are you crazy? He’s damaged enough!”
There were various objections around Bee, but he couldn’t place who said what over the buzzing and ringing in his processors.
“I need to! Look! Sari, try using your key.”
Bee felt the little footsteps of the organic on the table, and felt her small hand on his chassis. He could hear her sobbing, and felt little splashes of liquid falling on his melted metal plating.
“I- I can’t! It’s not opening! There’s nowhere to put the key!” Sari collapsed and threw her arms around Bumblebee’s helm. “Bee, don’t do this! I need you!” She wailed.
Bulkhead reached out and gently peeled her off of the mangled bot’s body. “Sari, let the doc-bot work.” His voice was quiet and shaky.
“As soon as I separate his legs from his chassis and make an opening for the key, use it, Sari.” Ratchet turned on a small torch and a saw. He reached out towards Bee with shaking hands. “Prowl, start an energon infusion drip, right now. He’s bleeding out, he’s at 2%.” Prowl sprung into action and placed the various equipment into position.
Bumblebee felt like he was drifting away until he felt the flame of the torch running over his chassis and felt the prick of the energon needle in his arm. He writhed around on the table frantically, desperately trying to get away from the pain. Prowl gasped as the energon drip was ripped out of Bumblebee’s arm.
“Prime! Hold him down! Now!”
Bee felt the strong arms of the Prime stretch over him and press his arms down. There was a knee on his feet, also effectively pinning him down.
“I’m sorry, Bee, but you’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep thrashing around like that.” Optimus didn’t like how easy it was to overpower the smaller bot. It made him think about all the times that Bee had been pinned down by a Decepticon. He felt his stomach churn.
Bee opened his working optic and looked up at the concerned face hovering above him. Optimus looks so worried, Bee thought, I wish I could say something to him. He cracked open his mouth and let out a sound that was similar to a chirp. Prowl stabbed two new energon lines into Bee’s arms and started the infusion. Bee chirped again, a little more frantic.
“Take a deep breath, Bee.” Optimus said, his voice trembling. “It’s gonna hurt for a few minutes, but Ratchet needs to help you.”
Ratchet took that as his signal, and immediately resumed working with the torch and saw. Bee shrieked and shook under Optimus’s hold, but Optimus did not loosen his grip. He did close his optics, however, as he couldn’t bear to look at Bee’s face twisted in agony.
“Bulkhead, take Sari out of here. Now.” Prowl was next to the larger bot and started ushering him out of the room. “She doesn’t need to see this.”
“No! Don’t kick me out! I need to be here for Bumblebee!” Sari’s angry voice faded away as Bulkhead got further away, carrying the young girl in his arms.
Prowl came back to stand by Optimus and Ratchet. There was absolute silence among the group as Ratchet worked with a fierce intensity. There was a creaking sound, and then Bumblebee’s legs uncurled away from his chest. Ratchet sighed in relief, and then started cutting a small square out of Bee’s chassis. Bee struggled feebly, and then went completely limp under the Prime’s hold.
“Ratc-” started Optimus, but he was cut off by the shrieking of the monitors that were strapped up to Bumblebee. Optimus’s spark stopped when he saw the thin line on one of screens go completely flat. He immediately let go of the smaller bot and took a step back.
“Frag! Prowl! The batteries, now!” Prowl tossed the med-bot the batteries and hovered nearby, anxiety coming off of him in waves. Ratchet tapped the clamps together, and then placed them on Bee’s chassis. “Clear!” The medic shouted, and then sent a surge of energy through the inert bot’s body.
The line didn’t move.
Optimus found himself holding his breath and praying to Primus. Please let him wake up. Please, I beg you.
“No! Don’t do this to me, kid!” Ratchet bellowed. He tapped the clamps together again, with a little more ferocity, and then tried again. “Clear!”
Prowl ran a hand over his face, then sprinted towards the door, calling for Bulkhead.
Please. Please.
“C’mon. C’mon, kid. You can do this.” Ratchet’s voice quivered. “You can do this.”
Optimus felt himself sink to his knees, unable to do anything but stare in horror at his youngest crew member. Behind him, he heard the others re-enter the room.
“Clear!”
Please.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Oh, thank Primus!” Ratchet shouted as the monitor showed the little green line starting to move again. “Thank Primus!” He immediately threw himself back into his work, and continued to make an opening in Bee’s chassis.
Sari sobbed into Bulkhead’s shoulder. “Why is he gray? Does that mean he’s dying? Someone tell me something!”
Optimus couldn’t find the strength to get back to his feet yet. He heard Bulk and Prowl explaining that Bee was going to be okay, there had just been a little scare, but Sari burst into tears again. Prime watched Ratchet work, and then pull a little section of metal back.
“Sari! We have an opening, we need your key!”
Optimus sprung to his feet immediately and moved to stand next to the table. Bee was moving again, and he opened his good optic to stare up at Optimus. Optimus reached out and peeled away some of Bumblebee’s melted face mask away from his nose and mouth so he could breathe a little better. Bee squirmed feebly as Optimus touched his face.
“Hey, Bee. We’re almost there. You’re gonna be okay, Sari’s gonna help you now.”
Bumblebee blinked, his vision blurry. He felt sluggish and ill. He was pretty sure that he had gone offline for a few moments there. Why did they wake him up? Sari’s face popped into view, and she held her glowing key in her hand.
“I’m here, Bumblebee.”
Suddenly, he felt the key in his chassis and energy surging through his battered body. He opened his mouth to scream, and then promptly went offline.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
What was that annoying noise? It just went on and on. Bumblebee groaned and started to move. As soon as he found what was making that incessant noise, he was gonna break it into a thousand little bits. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the ceiling above him. Where was he? He blinked a few more times, and tried to dismiss the many warnings that popped up in his visuals. He wasn’t sure where he was, what time it was, or what was going on. Oh, there it was. There was a monitor next to him, and it was what was making the annoying beeping noise. His eyes followed the wires that it was connected to, and was surprised to see that they connected to his chassis. He peeled them off, hoping that the noise would stop.
It didn’t. Instead, the machine let out a long, shrill noise and started flashing a warning on it’s display.
“Gah! Stop that!” Bee started pushing all the buttons on the monitor to try and silence it. It was starting to give him a headache.
He was interrupted by the sound of shouting and running feet somewhere else in the building.
“Bumblebee?”
Bee turned to see Optimus at the foot of the table he was lying on. He was sitting in a chair and had a blanket draped over his shoulders. He looked exhausted.
“Uhh… Hey, Boss-bot. What’s going on?” Bee started looking around the room, trying to decipher what was going on. They were in the base, he was on the medical table, and he had been-
“Oh.”
Ratchet appeared in the doorway, with a battery pack in his hands and a determined look on his face. He instantly relaxed and gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw Bee sitting upright on the table. Prowl and Bulkhead appeared behind him a nanoclick later.
“Bumblebee! You’re okay!” Bulkhead wasted no time in rushing over to his friend and wrapping him up in a hug. “We were so worried about you little buddy!”
“Bulkhead, don’t squeeze the life outta him, we just got him back.” Ratchet scowled at the bigger bot, but his tone held no malice. “Thank Primus you’re finally online again. Now I can give you a full-scale check over.” He started poking Bee with various tools.
“Hey- Hey! Give a bot a break, won’t ya?” The yellow bot wiggled away from the medical bot.
“No.”
Bee huffed and turned to look at Prowl and Optimus who were standing on the other side of the table. Prowl was smiling at him, relief evident in his features.
“You gave us quite the scare, Bumblebee.” Optimus’s voice was slightly quieter than usual. “We thought we lost you for a moment there. That was quite the situation.”
Bumblebee chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his helm. “Yeah, I will admit that was one of my worse plans.” He tried to make a joke out of it. “That’s why I’m not a leader! My plans would be terrible!”
No one else laughed, and Bee felt his spark sink. He was never gonna hear the end of this.
Optimus coughed. “Yes, well, Bee, we can’t just let you make light of this. You went offline for Primus sake!”
“Hey! I saved everyone didn’t I? That’s what needed to be done, and I did it.” Bumblebee crossed his arms and scowled at the other bots.
Ratchet and Optimus locked optics over the table, both of them frowning at the other.
Primus, I’m slagged.
“I know, Bee, and I am proud that you did that. I’m proud of you, truly.” Optimus looked into Bee’s optics, and it felt like he was staring into the depths of his spark. “But I’m worried about the fact that your plan almost sent you offline for good. If Sari wasn’t here with her key, we would have lost you. We can’t lose you, Bee.”
Bumblebee felt his anger evaporate, and he sighed. He suddenly felt a chill run up his spine, and was filled with a feeling of terror. He hadn’t wanted to die. He hadn’t. It was just a heat-of-the-moment plan, and he didn’t realize what the consequences would be. He was moving too fast, as usual. Using his thrusters before his processors.
“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t want to die. I was terrified. I was falling to Earth with no way to stop, and way too much time to think.” He closed his optics firmly shut and tried to block out the rising terror in his chest. “I was literally melting into myself, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to comm you guys and apologize.” He shivered suddenly at a flash of pain that rushed through his body and looked at Ratchet. The medic looked a little remorseful.
“You’ll probably feel some phantom pains for a while, kid. Sorry I can’t do anything about that.”
“It’s fine.” Bee swung his legs off the edge of the table. “I need some air.” He tried to stand, and felt his knees buckle under him. Prowl and Optimus were next to him instantly, holding him up. Bee bit his tongue in frustration, and gritted out through his teeth “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Optimus still looked worried. Bee resisted the urge to scream. It wasn’t his fault, Prime didn’t do anything wrong.
“Positive.” Bumblebee pulled his arms out of his teammates’ grasps and marched towards the door on shaky stabilizers. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Bumbleb-” Optimus started, but the little yellow bot had already transformed and sped away.
“Let him go, Prime. He needs some time to himself, that’s all.” Ratchet sighed and started putting his tools away. “I still need to check him over…”
“But he had like, five days to himself when he was in stasis!” Bulkhead said, distressed.
“Let us call Sari, Bulkhead, and tell her that Bee is awake. We can talk to Bee when he returns.” Prowl placed a servo on his teammate’s arm and guided him towards the door.
Optimus watched them go, then turned to Ratchet when they were out of sight. “Ratchet, do you think that Bee is okay?”
“Physically? I haven’t done a full check-up but I’d say he’s doing pretty slagging good for having gone temporarily offline. Mentally, well, that’s another question. You don’t offline and quite come back the same bot, I can tell you that much.” His face got a faraway look, and he gazed into the distance. “I saw it a lot during the war…”
They both turned and looked in the direction that Bumblebee had gone and stood there for a while, just thinking.
Bumblebee finally came to a stop, after several minutes of racing through the city. He transformed out of his vehicle mode and sat down on the edge of the cliff. It was a cliff that overlooked the city and the lake, a calm and peaceful view. He and Sari had found it when they were out exploring together. Sari. He should probably let her know that he was alive.
He was alive, he was alive, he was alive.
Bumblebee tried to calm his racing spark. He hadn’t meant to snap at Prime and leave like that, but he just felt so…overwhelmed. He could feel everything. Every break in his frame, every punctured fuel line, his offline optic and his melted vocalizer. He looked down at his servos that he had set in his lap. They were shaking. He swung his stabilizing servos over the edge of the cliff absentmindedly, trying to take deep breaths and clear his mind. As he watched his legs swing, he suddenly realized just how high up the cliff was. Down far below, he could see a river snaking into the lake in between the trees. It looked so high up. Bee felt his spark-rate climbing, and he felt nauseous. He scrambled away from the cliff’s edge until his back was firmly pressed up against the face of the mountain.
“Frag it all,” he whispered. “Of course the universe decided to give me a fear of heights now. As if I’m not useless enough already.” He felt his optics burning, but he refused to start leaking. First, he comes face-to-face with Primus himself, and now he has a fear of heights. He tried to vent deeply, but it felt like he was suffocating. How illogical, he didn’t even breathe. You can’t suffocate, bolts-for-brains, he thought to himself. But it sure feels like I can, like I am, another part of him argued. He tried to remember the breathing techniques that Prowl had been teaching him, but it was like his mind had been scrubbed of all useful information. He yelled in frustration and punched the ground in front of him.
“Geez, what did the mountain ever do to you?”
Bumblebee whipped his head up and looked to see who had spoken. A second later he was knocked over by Sari plowing into him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck.
“You idiot.” She managed to say through her tears. “You idiot! Don’t ever do that again, do you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, ma’am.” Bee gave a mock salute and patted the distraught girl on the back. “I promise.”
Sari sniffed once more and then glared at the Autobot suspiciously. “Pinky promise?”
“I pinky promise.” Bee extended his smallest digit, which Sari tried to wrap her own pinky around. It didn’t quite work, but the sentiment was there, so that’s what mattered.
“Now, how did you get up here?” Bee looked past Sari, and tried not to cringe.
Optimus stepped out from behind a large tree and waved awkwardly. “Um, I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“Well, I went to pick Sari up so she could see you when you returned, but as we were driving back I got a call from Ratchet. He said that your spark-rate was running high, and that he was worried about you. I told Sari, and she said that she thought she knew where you might be, and, well, here we are.”
“Ratchet’s spying on me?” Bee gave Optimus an angry look.
“No! Well, not intentionally. He didn’t get the chance to take off all of the digital monitors that he had installed before you, um, left.” Optimus rubbed the back of his neck.
Bee sighed. He couldn’t stay angry at Optimus. “It’s okay, really. And…I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I was just- just really overwhelmed by everything.”
“There’s no need to apologize, Bee.” Optimus looked at the smaller bot kindly as he sat down next to him. “You wouldn’t have needed to apologize, um, on the way down either.” He nodded discreetly at Sari.
Bee raised an optic ridge, then was struck with understanding. “Oh. Oh yeah. Well, I still would have you know. I didn’t mean for it to end like that. I was just going too fast, as usual, and didn’t think it through. Like you said earlier today, I should use my processor before my thrusters.”
Optimus placed a large hand on Bumblebee’s much smaller shoulder. “Maybe you do move too fast sometimes, but it’s not always a bad thing. It’s saved my aft many times.”
Bee smiled. “Yeah. I guess it has.”
Optimus’s face got a little more solemn. “You must realize, Bumblebee, that you aren’t useless. You caught Nanosec, and you saved the entire city from being blown up. You’ve done so much for this team, and for this city. There are many people that care about you, and that find comfort in your presence. The team would not be the same without you.”
“You heard that?”
“Yes.” Optimus looked sad. “You are invaluable to me, and to the team. I wish you would be a little more careful with yourself, knowing that.”
“I-” Bumblebee looked at Sari, who was sitting on his knee.
“You’re my best friend, Bumblebee. I can’t lose you.” Her eyes were shiny, threatening to leak again. “And it’s okay that you’re scared of heights, I am too!” She gazed earnestly into Bee’s optics. Bee stared back.
“…I care for both of you very much. I promise I’ll be more careful.” He grinned at his two friends, trying to lighten the mood. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll slow down! I’m still gonna be the fastest thing on wheels!”
Sari and Optimus both smiled, and Sari wrapped her small frame around Bee’s chassis as far as she could.
Later, after they had all gone back to the base and had a small celebration with Sari before she had to go, Bumblebee found himself back on the medical table. He was quiet, and Ratchet was silent as he worked. After a while, however, the older bot sighed and put down his tools.
“You’re too quiet for it to be normal, kid. What’s eating at you?” He looked Bee in the optics, and Bee was surprised to see so much sympathy in them. Ratchet had never had the best bedside manners, and the sudden gentleness was a little surprising.
“Um. I don’t know. I’m just thinking.”
“About?” The war veteran stared at the much younger bot, and Bee realized that Ratchet, out of all his teammates, might understand the most.
“Death, I think. And what comes after it.”
The medic was silent, and Bee took that as a sign to continue.
“I mean, I think I saw something. Someone. They were talking to me. They told me that it wasn’t my time yet, but that I would-” Bee stopped. “Never-mind, it’s stupid.”
“No, it’s not.”
Bee looked at the medic in surprise. He sighed, and then looked him in the optics.
“Back during the war, I met a lot of bots who had had close brushes with death. They talked about seeing someone too. I think it’s probably some form of Primus, guiding those who’ve gone offline back to the Allspark. Now, what did he say to you?”
Bee swallowed. “Um, just that he hoped he wouldn’t be seeing me again soon.”
Ratchet knew he was lying through his denta, Bee knew it, but for whatever reason the medic didn’t press the issue.
“Hey, doc-bot. I never said thanks for saving my aft.” Bee smiled at the med-bot. “Thank you.”
Ratchet’s gaze softened, and he patted Bumblebee on the shoulder. “Of course, kid. It’d be too quiet around here without ya. Now scram, I’ve got work to do.”
Bee hopped off the table and walked out of the room. Ratchet watched him go, and he hoped that he was interpreting what Bee had said wrong. He hoped it with all of his spark.
Bee made his way into the living room and sat down next to Bulkhead on the couch. One of Prowl’s nature documentaries was playing on the TV, and everyone was just sitting quietly.
“Hey, Bee. Wanna play a video game?” Bulkhead grinned at his friend. “It’s been really boring around here without you, little buddy.”
“I would be willing to give up the television, I suppose.” Prowl said from where he sat on the floor.
Bee grinned. “Okay, you’re on Bulky. Just don’t complain when I absolutely crush you!”
“I get to play the winner,” said Prowl as he handed the remote to Bumblebee.
Optimus watched his team contentedly, and thought about the events of the past few days. The team wouldn’t be the same without Bee, that’s for sure. Ratchet entered the room and sat next to him. He sighed when he saw what the others were up to.
“Video games again? They spend far too much time doing that.”
Optimus smiled. “I’ll allow it tonight. Bee’s earned it anyways.”
“I’m a little worried about him, Prime.” The medic said quietly.
“Me too, but we will work through it as a team. We will support Bee when he needs it, and give him space when he wants it.”
Ratchet seemed to have something to say, but he hesitated and fell silent. “You’re right. Support. Yeah.”
Optimus sincerely hoped he was right.
Later that night, when everyone else had entered recharge, Bumblebee found himself wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He had a lot to think about. He wondered why Ratchet hadn’t said anything to Optimus about their conversation. He had heard them talking about him. He rolled over and sighed in frustration. He wished more than anything that he was in recharge right now. He wondered if he had really come face-to-face with Primus, and if what he had been told was really going to happen. He thought about what he had done.
I would have done it again in a spark-beat, he realized. I really would have, if it meant that Earth would be safe. If it meant that Sari would be safe. Maybe he was just formed like that, with the urge to protect, no matter the cost. He was pretty sure that Optimus and the rest of the team was built like that too.
“And Optimus told me to be more careful! As if he isn’t risking his aft every other week!” Bee said out loud to no one in particular.
He almost laughed. Well, that was something to talk about at another time. Bee wondered what the Prime might say if he brought it up.
I would’ve done it again, he thought. The thought gave him some odd form of comfort.
I would have done it again, if it meant that my friends would be safe, and I am proud of that.
Bumblebee drifted off into recharge with that thought on his mind, and a strong intent in his heart. He was more than ready to meet Primus again if it meant that he had done a good job. He would shake Primus’s servo, say, fancy meeting you here again, and then be led back to the Allspark to spend the rest of the afterlife there. He would be truly okay with that, in the end. He made his choices, he had made his choice today, and he would do it again in a spark-beat.