I couldn't feel a thing.

Which felt amazing.

It was like I was floating on air, all the pain gone and never to return.

At first, it was all darkness, which was a bit nerve wracking. Then, a bright light envelopes around me. It was beautiful and shone like the sparkles in the optics of the Autobots.

I was about to head towards when I thought accrued to me.

The Autobots.

If I were to go into that light, would I ever see them again?

Ratchet.

I drew my hand back into my chest from previously reaching for the light. As soon as the medic's faceplate flashed in my vision, a rush of emotions flooded into me. The strongest of which was pain. Surprisingly, it wasn't physically pain, and it wasn't even mine. As it flowed through me like a sea, I realized that pain was the sadness and grief of losing someone. It was the panic of someone who cared for someone else too much to let them go. I blinked in surprise when I realized that I was once again feeling through Ratchet's spark. This time, however, it felt stronger. So much stronger.

When I realized this, I seemed to fully wake up within the darkness. I realized that as peaceful as the light looked, I couldn't take it right now. I had people who needed me. And frankly, if I was being honest, I wasn't ready to go just yet. I smiled softly to myself, looking at the light sadly. Shaking my head, my body turned and started running the opposite direction, towards consciousness. Towards the mech who was calling my name silently from his spark. For a brief moment, I paused and looked back.

A gentle smile met me, and I saw a sandy haired woman wave at me, mouthing a goodbye. Tears filled my eyes as I smiled and waved back at her.

"I'll be back someday," I said quietly, and then I turned and ran away again.

I'm coming, Ratchet.

~

At first, there was darkness again. A brief moment later, there was feeling, and I knew I had made it back. Slowly, as feeling spread up my entire body, I realized there wasn't much pain. Only a dull ache that seemed to be slowly subsiding. And then there was warmth. Something smooth and warm was gently stroking my head, brushing my hair softly. I smiled gently when I realized in the dark that this was Ratchet, his digits carefully caressing me. It took me a few minutes to finally force my eyes to flutter open, and even when they did, everything was blurry. Apparently, my hearing had returned to me as well, because the moment they began to open, I heard a quiet gasp. My muscles ached, but I managed to raise my arm, my fingers finding the warm metal of his servo, and I stroked it gently as I tried to focus on his faceplate. It took a minute, but finally I was able to see him, his expression a sea of relief and surprise.

"Hey, Ratchet," I said quietly, my voice hoarse and scratchy. I coughed a little at the dryness of my throat, realizing that my mouth felt pretty dry, too.

My guardians deflated, his optics swimming with several emotions that I couldn't really identify. His other servo reached out and touched the other side of my face gently, his derma parting as he released a heavy sigh. My smile grew into a wide beam, despite how weak I felt, and with quite a bit of effort, I sat up. Ratchet immediately opened his derma to protest against me doing his, but when I reached out and hugged his servo tightly, he decided not to and simply watched me as slight tear began to fill my eyes.

I began to look around, trying to take in my surroundings. I realized that I was laying upon a giant medical berth, one that was obviously used for Cybertronians and not humans. My face flushed with embarrassment, realizing that I had taken up this much space for who knows how long. It was still light out, which meant that the other kids were probably still here. I could see Optimus and Ultra Magnus by a monitor. Bulkhead and Bee were having a silent conversation over in a corner. I blinked my eyes and looked back up to Ratchet, who was still watching me.

My lips turned up into a beam. "Good morning!" I said cheerfully, feeling like my heart was as light as a feather.

Ratchet blinked at me a few times with wide optics, like he had realized something. Then his face fell into a small, genuine smile. He bent over more, leaning in and placing his forehelm on my forehead gently. "Good morning, Taylor," he whispered softly.

My face heated up immediately from him being so close, and I silently cursed myself for always being embarrassed and flustered like this. I reached up and took his faceplate with my hands, leaning in and closing my eyes, a soft smile playing my lips.

"Hey, look, she's awake!!"

Both of us jumped when we heard Miko's voice, instantly prying ourselves away from each other, and even Ratchet's faceplate was a bit Energon blue with embarrassment. I strained to look over the edge, seeing that Miko, Jack, and Raf were leaning over the railing of the new designated "human area", wide smiles on their faces. The teenage girl's shout had also caught the attention of the other Autobots and human adults, all of them looking over quickly with wide eyes/optics.

Ratchet looked down at me with a small smirk, holding out his servo for me to climb on to. I grinned at him, realizing as I did that the fear and sad emotions were almost all gone in this moment, and slowly crawled into it, holding back a grunt from the effort. My guardian lifted me carefully, walking closer to the railing and holding me out slightly, but he didn't let me go. I waved shyly at the other kids.

"Look at you!" Miko exclaimed, holding out her arms. "You look so much better!!"

"You really do!" Raf said happily. Jack smiled from behind him, nodding his head.

I smiled at them a little. The Autobots came over, some of them leaning over to examine me. I flinched, which made me a bit upset, but I was happy to see them.

"Welcome back, Taylor," Optimus said, the corners of his derma turned up ever so slightly.

I nodded, still in awe of his new, larger form. The other members of Team Prime expressed their relief and joy to see me awake, which again made me wonder just how long I'd been out. Nurse Darby walked up behind the children, holding a glass in her hands.

"You must be thirsty," she said kindly, holding it out for me to take.

As a matter of fact, I was. I leaned out and took it gratefully. "Thanks!" I said, drinking it almost immediately, taking a deep breath when I finished. It felt amazingly cool and wet down my dry throat.

Ratchet chuckled slightly, causing some of them to look at him in alarm, before he raised me up slightly, closer to his chest chassis. "If you don't mind, I need to look her over to see if her systems are functioning properly with her new spark."

New spark?! my mind shouted as he turned, setting me back down on the medical berth and scanning me. "I have a new spark?" I whisper shouted to him as the others all returned to what they had been doing.

His face turned a little blue, and I felt a swell of awkwardness come from him, causing me to raise an eyebrow. He cleared his throat as he looked over the scan.

"Well, yes. Given the fact that the one MECH gave you was having failures, the reason for your seizure in the first place." He paused an gave me a glare, and I could feel that he was upset with me for not telling him.

I fiddled with my fingers nervously and looked at my lap. "U-Um... Yeah, um... sorry.. I wasn't really sure how to tell you.."

He sighed, deflating a little. "I understand. Whatever Shockwave did to you took a heavy toll on your body and your mind." I felt hatred fall into his spark and shuddered, though I honestly hated that mech too.

A thought crossed my mind. "Wait, where did you get another spark?!" I asked in panic, my hand reaching up and clasping my chamber. To my surprise, no pain shot up my body when I did so, like I was used to.

Again, a wave of awkwardness and worry met me, coming from Ratchet's spark. I wondered why he was so transparent now as he leaned down, getting closer to me.

"Well... giving you the spark of a Cybertronian that was already deceased was the cause of the spark failure in the first place," he explained, his optics avoiding my gaze. "So it was required that one of us give you... a sliver of our own spark to keep you alive."

I jumped in surprise, looking at him with wide eyes. I had a fairly good idea who that had been, but I still asked, "And... who did it?"

He brought his servo to his derma as he cleared his throat again. "I did, of course..," he muttered under his breath, his optics still gazing away.

I sat there for a few moments, blinking and taking it in. Ratchet had given me a piece of his spark. For me. To save my life. He had sacrificed a part of himself for me. Tears brimmed in the corners of my eyes and I bit my lip.

Ratchet saw my expression and immediately began to fret. "Does this upset you?" he asked, and I could feel that he felt both a bit sorry and hurt.

I shook my head quickly. "No, I'm happy! I'm so glad that you.. did this for me." I wiped my eyes hurriedly and offered him a shaky smile. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

His expression was neutral for a moment before he gave me a genuine smile, his servo reaching out and stroking my head, tussling my silver hair a little. "Good."

I leaned my head on his servo, gently kissing his digit and mumbling "Thanks" while hiding my red cheeks.

~

Ugh, it is now my third day of being sick.

And I realized that I have expressed just how much I hate Shockwave in this book...

Lol I hope you have enjoyed.

*waves*