Lyric 22

For this chapter I am going to suggest a song to listen to while you read, its by evanescence, and its called "Lost in Paradise"

You can youtube it easily.

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It really shouldn't have surprised her. After a few hours of talking, and mainly catching up with her friends, even a few more for Jazz to recharge for a while, Prowl finally returned his leg had been treated, though he still had a slight limp.

They received a few warnings from Ratchet about mechs's health, and were given a...well it was a wheelchair...only it didn't have any wheels, instead it hovered.
Jazz gave it a scornful look more than a few times before being helped onto it, after which it was Lyric's responsibility to drive his chair after Prowl.
She didn't pay Prowl much mind though, trying to take in and memorize the halls around them, this was fairly different from the base they had been in so far, the halls were bigger, and held a feeling of architecture to them that was definitely not human, but still, in its own way, attractive. Though she was fairly certain it was not an artistic ship, it was mostly functional.

But here and there she could occasionally find a detail or another that gave away the need to look pleasant, and every once in a while she spotted a graffiti or two.

Jazz kept trying to keep conversation, but she wasn't really listening.

Her mind was instead on her friends, so far everything had gone fine between them, they were agitated of course, and she knew at least one or another was on the verge of a breakdown. One she selfishly wanted to avoid, but to be honest, she was more afraid of them prying into her story than anything else, as the example, she had no doubt that they would, but she wasn't ready to talk about it, not yet.

It was still too fresh a wound, held back in the corners of her mind, where she couldn't see it, where it wouldn't bother her.

It would have been so much better if she could just pretend it never happened.

Before she knew it, they stood before a door, which Prowl typed in the access codes for, and letting them in he turned on the lights.

It wasn't all that different from the one on the previous base, save for the more cybertroniany (or so she thought) stuff than the earth stuff.

Prowl seemed to notice this for he commented:

"Our possessions from our previous lodgings will be returned soon enough, they are for now being examined for any possible hidden trackers or microphones."

"I see." She said simply with a nod, leading Jazz's chair further in the room and allowing the door to close.
These quarters had more space, and more doors to them, she could count three doors, and the main room was slightly divided by a few cabinets between the living area and what she could guess was kind of their kitchen? It didn't look much like one, but the type of placement of things suggested it.

"Like before, you are free to use the living space and the washrack." Prowl continued motioning for one of the doors. "Jazz's and mine's room is in here" Prowl motioned for the door closest to him."And this time around, I am glad to tell you, that you will be given your own room." he said, motioning for the last door, pleased at the manner her doorwings perked up. "It was being remodeled while you were recovering at our previous base, I am afraid it is still not finished however, so you will have to forgive us on that."

"I get my own room?" She asked, just because she needed to hear it again as a confirmation.

"Of course" he said, as if it were the more logical thing in the world. "This room has always been yours. We had it installed when Jazz was carrying you."

"T'was kind of a hobby ta get it ready for ya" Jazz input with a faint smile, not his usual broad one.

"So...that's like... a baby room?" she asked curiously, moving away from Jazz's chair to edge towards the door.

"A sparkling room" Prowl corrected "and, not quite anymore, we at least have gotten you a proper berth for you to recharge in, we couldn't have you recharge in a crib now could we?" He teased lightly, resting his hands on her shoulders, giving her some encouragement to go inside. She looked back at him hesitantly, silently asking permission, to which he nodded, giving her a light push.

They watched her expectantly, as she reached for the control to open the door, and then jumped a little when it hissed open.

The room wasn't what she expected. In her naivety, she had expected it to be brightly colored, like the humans did for their children, either blue or pink.

But instead, her room was almost pitch black, however it had tiny little dots and lines all across it, lighting it up as if the entire room was the center of the galaxy.

It made for a very soothing, if a bit eery atmosphere.

"Its traditional from our culture ta have a room with the galaxy in it fer sparklin's, supposed ta represent how they're the center of the universe fer us" Jazz explained as Prowl pushed him up behind her.

"I see... that...makes a bit of sense I guess...still a little... odd how you chose to decorate it."

"If it is not to your pleasing, it can be changed" Prowl said easily, noting her slight discomfort.

"No, no, its not bad, I mean, its just not what I expected that's all. I guess I'm still too attached to the human concept of things."

"Understandable." Prowl said in the same tone.

"Just... give me some time to get used to it I guess? I've got a lot on my mind right now, and a lot to sort out in it as well."

"We'll leave you to rest then, if you require us for anything, we shall be in our room, you are welcome to come for our aid at all times."

Her visor dimned, her gaze shifting to the floor "Right...thank you" she said as they made to leave "Good night."

"Good night Lyric."

"Cya tomorrow sparkles!" and with that the door shut closed, leaving her in the odd and quiet room.

Lyric took a moment, staring at the door, before shifting uncomfortably and looking around.
There were a few datapads on a shelf, and some odd objects displayed on them as well, she didn't dare touching them without knowing what they were.
There was also a box, a very streamlined one, with a light on the cover, she didn't open that either.

The floor had a soft rug made out of something she couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was soft, and it made her steps a lot quieter.

The same kind of material covered the berth, which, although was for just one person, was relatively wide and comfortable.

With a reluctant sigh, she approached the berth, and carefully lay down under the soft material, shutting down everything she could to try and go to sleep.

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At first, there was nothing, just darkness, no materiality, no nothing. Then a voice spoke, it was muffled, she couldn't tell the words apart very well.

Then her vision flickered on, and she was startled with a strange faceplate. It was that of a mech, his denta were long and sharp like a shark's, his optics piercingly red and sadistic, his fingers like sharp needles.

She panicked, and made to move away, but was startled to find her legs and wrists tied to where she lay, the room was dark, but a bright light shone upon her, another mech, just as frightening, if not more for his large size, came into view, holding out a laser scalpel in his hands, it was stained with energon.

Feeling her eyes widening behind her her visor, she looked down, and saw her old human body, a gaping hole in her chest, bleeding out whatever was left of her, the insides sparking from the ripped circuitry.

Feeling like she was running short of breath, she looked up at the two mechs, one of them held something, a strange glass container, holding inside an energy orb of some kind...

"Your spark is ours now" The mech said darkly.

She wanted to shout otherwise, to reach of her spark, for her soul, it was painful, to see it, having its container caressed by energon dirty fingers.

Lyric sat up with a start, inhaling as much air as she possibly could, venting it through her overheated and stressed body.
It was still dark, unnaturally so, but she recognized the unknown constellations of the universe around her.

That didn't make things any easier however. Getting a grip of her reality with some delay, she pulled her legs up, hugging her knees in an attempt to comfort herself.

She let out a shaky breath, vaguely reaching to touch at her chest, needing to know that there was no hole there.

Still the fear lingered like a leech, and it even surprised her when she felt trickles of energon come from her optics.

She quickly cleaned it away, berating herself for such childishness: it was only a nightmare, just that right?

It wasn't an actual memory...right? What if it was a memory?

Her breaths became harder to cycle, she was panicking and she knew it, her optics darting to every corner of the room that she could visibly see, anywhere where the tiniest thing could possibly hide in.

Not able to take it any longer, she threw the covers off of herself and rushed out of the room and into the living room, it was darkened as well, the lights were off, there were no sounds coming from Jazz's and Prowl's room, which probably meant they were in recharge.

For a fleeting moment she considered going in there and seek comfort, but no, as soon as that thought came, it was gone. She couldn't bother them with this. She didn't trust them with it either. It was too personal, too frighting to even word out.

So quietly, making sure there were no more streaks of energon on her face, she made her way out. A quick walk would sort this out, it always did before, whens he would have the worst arguments with her old parents, she would run off into the streets, and walk around for hours, not thinking, just walking, letting herself calm down.

It wouldn't be the same to do so in the Ark's halls, but it was the best she was going to get now. Besides, according to them this ship was perfectly hidden, not even the humans knew where it was.

It wasn't like there was going to be another attack for a long while at least.

This was proven when she met a few mechs along the halls, and they passed a simple greeting, carrying on with their business. No one had told her to go back, no one had asked questions. It was fine.

She kept on walking for a while, having no idea where she was after a while, but that was ok, it was part of this walk, it didn't matter where she went, it didn't matter if she didn't know her way back.
Then something unexpected happened... she met a blocked hall, there were bars blocking the path, like the police would do to a crime scene, nothing she couldn't pass over.

Only this was not a crime scene, this was because the hall had been torn open by the cave, likely when the ship had collided in here.
Her spark skipped a few beats, realization coming to her. This was a way out...out of everything, all her troubles, out of everything.

She didn't need to consider it, she didn't need to think about it.

She crawled over the barricade, and slipped out the exit, into the dark cave.
There were some lights in the distance, likely from the entrance to the ship.
There was also a lot of noise, the noise of rain.

She followed the sound eagerly, nothing a crack or another starting to show, letting in streams of water and a pale moonlight.

Finally she saw a crack big enough to fit her, and she began climbing her way to it, each grip on the slippery rocks felt like an open breathe, she could feel life returning just by reaching it. She needed o step out.

The rain started to fall on her metal, the noise loud, but she couldn't care more when she managed to pull herself out of that darkness and was met with the night, which for once looked as bright as day, despite all the gray clouds, despite the large jungle trees shadowing everything. It couldn't have been brighter.

Stumbling a little, she made her way down the mountain, idly noting that the ark's engine's could faintly be seen poking from the side of the mountain, now covered in trees and jungle fauna.

With her processor incapable of considering things over, she rushed into the forest, rushing, running through, tripping on the occasional stone or branch, weaving between the large trees.

Finally she stopped running when her path ended in the edge of a cliff, the sight before taking away all the weight from her soul.

It was the kind of sight she only ever got to see on a television program, infinite jungle, green everywhere, a giant waterfall landing far far down below.

Slowly she walked to the edge, leaned down and sat there, her legs dangling in the air, tempting fate.

The rain was the only sound, her only company.

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Prowl awoke slowly into the morning, feeling a tangle of limbs wrapped around his body and a warm presence he knew so well clinging to him.
He onlined his optics, taking in the sight of his mate, fully relaxed in his arms after a long night.

Even injured as he was, Jazz was a...very active mech a night. And they had been in a rather good mood, returning to the ark, returning to their old home here. It might not have been Cybertron, but it had been their home for so long, and through such hard times, it felt good to be back here, now more than ever since Lyric was with them to share it.

Gently he nuzzled Jazz's faceplate with his own, attempting to wake him up.

He was successful, as the other mech's optics came online to meet his, on instinct he reached over and gave Prowl's lips a light peck, before reaching back to the small table by the bed to reach for his visor.

"Mornin' Prowler."

"Good morning, how are you feeling?" Prowl asked, his hand lightly tracing the recent patch on Jazz's wound, sending his other a slight shiver.

"As good as Ah ever feel after a night like tha'." Jazz said, clicking his visor back into place before returning to snuggle against Prowl's side. "Ah might even try a few steps today."

Prowl frowned at that, his arms wrapping possessively around the smaller mech, petting his back lovingly.

"Remember what Ratchet said: you are not to push yourself." He reminded, making Jazz chuckle, receiving a feeling of thanks and appreciation.

After a few moments of just enjoying each other's presence, Prowl finally pulled away, sitting up.
"I will go get us some energon, and check if Lyric is up yet."

"Ah'll be waitin'" Jazz responded with a purr, amused at the roll of the optics that Prowl gave him as he stepped out.

Prowl fixed up a warm cube of energon first, making sure it was just the right temperature, before he went to Lyric's door, knocking at it.

"Lyric? Its Prowl, I have your morning ration if you wish?" He received no answer, perhaps she was still asleep? If so he would have left her be, but with what had been going on lately, he felt the need to always check that she was present, so he silently ordered the door to open, and peeked into the room, it was empty of the child, the berth's blanket was on the floor, nothing in the room seemed out of order except for the absence of his youngling.

"Lyric?" He called in doubt, just in case this was a sick prank, just in case she was hiding.

But he didn't receive a response.

Hurriedly he came out of the room and back to his own, setting the cube next to Jazz "I have to go, Lyric is not I her room." he said briskly.

"What? Did the cons-"

"I do not believe so, nothing is out of order. She must have left on her own for some reason."

"Ah'll go with ya"

"No, you are not yet capable of walking around, and moving you around in that hover chair will take too long. You will remain here in case she returns." he said grabbing his equipment from the table on his side of the berth. "I can still faintly feel her spark, not near, but she is definitely still around. I will follow it and bring her back, you have my word"

"Better keep me updated!" Jazz said, with slight irritation as Prowl hurried out the door, leaving him there to wait.