2 Chapter 2: Going Out with a Bang

The soft crackling of a fire resonated within the large cavern as Firespark stirred the bright embers. The fire was small enough to fight against the chilly temperatures of the early morning.

The grown femme felt at peace with herself as she mulled over yesterday's events. The supply run in the damaged escape pod brought many gifts to her stock. Inside the cargo hold, she found an abundance of energon cubes, medkits, a still-functioning stasis pod, and advanced medical materials to help with fatal injuries.

Midnight's health was returning, and she had slept through the night. When she woke up, she asked her rescuer where she could get cleaned. Firespark showed her a small lake that resides above them, supplying water for the cave's stream and handcrafted waterfall.

A clattering of pebbles alerted Firespark of the returning femme, "Man, it felt good to unclog my vents. It feels like I can breathe again, even though we don't need to breathe to live." Midnight sat by the fire, watching the flames dance with the breeze flowing from the mouth of the cave.

Firespark was almost shocked when she saw the Autobot femme. Instead of purple coloring, Midnight's frame was navy blue. She shook her helm, "You're lucky you spoke first, cause I would've thought that you were an intruder."

Midnight's cyan optics squinted in confusion, then she looked at herself, "Oh yeah, I'm blue, just like my sire. Hopefully, I'll see him again."

The former-Decepticon stood up and made her way toward a stack to datapads. "Well, you can find out today. This tablet has the coordinates of where the Autobots will meet you. They'll know when you arrive."

Grasping the tablet in her grey servos, Midnight nodded and placed it in her sub-storage. "Thank you, Firespark. If you ever encounter Autobots, always know you have a friend who has your back."

Firespark grinned at her, "No thanks are required, and the same goes for you if you're stuck in this neck of the woods."

After both femmes shook servos, Midnight walked through the cave entrance and into the misty forest.

~~~~~

The lake was skyline-silver with a light golden tint from the waking sun. Freckled trout were leaping for flies and splashing onto its surface. The only sounds were the bumbling of bees and the loud echo of a raven crowing.

Firespark watched as a group of deer contently lapped at the sweet snow-melted water. As the group backed away, a single doeling approached the mirror-like surface. Alone she drank until she was satisfied and rested within the long reeds.

"Why must you be alone? Surely there's someone who cares," the Cybertronian thought as a young buck appeared, grazing amongst the trees.

His long ears swiveled toward the reeds where the doeling softly bleated to herself. Cautiously, the buck stalked over toward the distressed deer, who snorted in surprise at the stranger.

The two stared at each other before dashing away together when a loud explosion resounded.

With wide orange optics, Firespark titled her helm back, gazing up at the sky. In a state of shock, she watched as a flaming ball came hurtling toward the mountain pass. The femme jumped up from her sitting position and chased after the falling cruiser before it crashed into the brown surface in a large cloud of dust.

Venting hard to cool her heating systems, Firespark took in the destroyed site. The dust slowly settled to the floor, extinguishing fires as dirt piled against the damaged pod. The doors sealing the passengers inside were no longer there. They must have disintegrated once entering the Earth's atmosphere. Without thinking, the pink Cybertronian raced toward the danger.

The inside was no different than the outside, with panels peeling off, small fires burning in the corners, terminals busted beyond repair, and alone body slouch in the captain's seat. Firespark rushed to their side and dragged them outside of the ship since their frame overpowered her.

While observing the unconscious stranger, Firespark realized that they were a mech. She scolded herself for not seeing that sooner since he had all of the mechly details. An Autobot logo adorned his broad chest, and his side portrayed a large gap that was profusely leaking energon.

Once handcrafting a stretcher made of broken branches, the femme pulled the mech toward the cave she called home. When she arrived, the stretcher wouldn't fit through the mouth of the cave. Grunting, Firespark supported the mech's weight against her as she stumbled into the cavern. "This would go a lot smoother if you'd wake up by now," she grumbled as she laid him on a berth.

Firespark gathered everything she required, energon cubes, a heated iron pole, and of course, a medical kit.

First on the list was to stop the leakage. The femme pressed the burning hot pole against the mech, melting the metal together. Popping open the kit, she removed a thin needle and rubber tubing. Taking his left arm, Firespark inserted the needle into his protoform and attached the tubing at the base. Realizing that she had nothing to contain the energon through the process, she grabbed a second needle. Implanting it into her arm, she finished the loop by connecting the rubber tube.

In satisfaction, Firespark watched the blue life-giver drain from her body and into the mech. Color slowly returned to the mech's frame from grey to a dull red. With a low-grade cube in hand, the femme sat on the berth beside the occupied one.

The low-grade energon that she was ingesting would transfer to the mech, providing him with nutrients and energy, all while keeping her from passing out.

It would only be a matter of time before the handsome mech's optics would open.

Handsome?!

"What are you thinking? You can't just fall for a mech who just fell out of the sky!" Firespark mentally screamed. A blue hue brightly shined from her cheeks as she hurriedly looked away. "I must be losing it from the loss of energon. Besides, he's an Autobot, and I'm a former Decepticon who's living as a Neutral. How could he ever love me?"