Transformers Prime: The Risen

Chapter 21: Night

Emma's POV:

I lay in my bed, in the room the bots gave me when I first came to live in the base, lost in thought. First, pretty much two more days until the final fight. Second, Darkplague's story is puzzling me. She was lying to me.... I just know it; lying that it 'ran in the family'. She's linked to it somehow... I just don't know what.

~~
Dark's POV:

I sit alone in my berthroom, not on my berth, but on a bench on the opposite side of the room, sitting in the cool darkness. How did Scourge interact with my processor during training? It didn't add up. He only can influence me when I feel the same need to kill that he once did, so why did it pull forth in training?

"Fighting Optimus didn't trigger the need... did it?" I say aloud, then my spark sinks with horror. "Optimus..."

Scourge lived to kill; but truly, the only kill that would satisfy him, was the death of a prime, at his faults. It stands to reason being so close to Optimus in action triggered... Scourge. I woke Scourge.

There came a knock on my door, and Knockout stepped in.

"Ack! Primus, Knockout, wait till I answer! I coulda had my armor off!" I jump up and hiss.

"Oh Sorry!" He covers his optics with one servo, blushing, cowering behind the slightly opened door.

Shaking my helm, I stride over and open it all the way.

"Uh.... hey Plague." He says nervously, still blushing.

"Hey." I reply.

"I came to check on you... after you left from training and......" Knockout begins. "Uh... yeah.... I was worried."

A smile comes to my faceplate. "I'm fine."

"That's good." Seeming relieved, he relaxes. "Well...... goodnight." Turning to leave, he smiles back.

"Wait-- uh Knockout?" Now I'm blushing as he turns back. "Can you... stay?"

"Of course." He replies.

~~
Emma's POV: 12:30 pm

Can't. Fall. The. Frag. Asleep. Tossing and turning in my bed, I find myself wanting company. Saidy had dissappeared when the Cons took over the base all that time ago, so... I'm alone. I sit up, staring into the darkness. I could go to Darkplague, ask for another mystery story, I would go to Everence if... Yeah. I could go to Optimus, but that'd be weird. No. Ratchet. I'm going to Ratchet.

Slowly, I climb from my bed, my feet patting against the cold floor as I leave my room and head down the hall. I pass a few rooms, belonging to different bots, as I pass Darkplague's I hear Knockout's voice,  which doesn't surprise me; those two are something. Finally I reach Ratchet's berthroom, and click a low down button to open the door. Inside it's dark like the hallway, and after my eyes adjust to the dark, I see him lying on his berth, with Malachite in recharge on the other side of him. Quietly, I walk over to the edge.

"Psst! Ratchet!" I whisper. "Ratchet wake up!"

"Mm. Five more minutes Malachite." He mutters, squeezing his optics shut even tighter.

"Who ya callin' Malachite? Dude, wake up!" I say a bit louder. When he doesn't answer I crawl up the side a bit and start pushing on his shoulder. "Ratchet! Wake up!"

"Malachite that tickles...." He mumbles.

"Dammit Ratchet!" I knock on his metal shoulder. "Get the frag up!"

"What?!" He suddenly sits up, blinking his optics. "Wh.........Why are you... what.... no. why?"

"I can't fall asleep." Shrugging, I reply.

"And... I should care about that factor?" He growls.

"Yes. I want company."

Ratchet groans and climbs off the berth, careful not to disturb his sparkmate, who's deep in recharge beside him, and heads down the hall with me, turning on the lights in the main room.

"Thanks Ratch." I smile and sit down on some kinda box.

"Mmm....hmm..." He nods, barely listening.

"R...Ratchet? Do you miss Everence as much as I do?"

He blinks, his optics filling with pain. "Of course. She was a close friend..."

We sit in silence for what-- five minutes? When we hear a thunk and an 'Oww' coming from Optimus.

"...Optimus did you just run into a wall?" I call out towards the hallway.

"N.....Yes."  He calls back sleepily, stumbling into the room, his optics only half open.

"And your up at twelve forty five because?" I ask him.

"I saw the lights on..." My goodness he talks slow when he's tired.

"Go back to your berthroom Optimus." Ratchet slightly chuckles, as the Prime turns around and leaves. Once he's around the corner of the hall and out of sight, we hear another thunk and 'was that wall always there?' from the same Prime.

I can't help but laugh, and Ratchet smiles.

"So, Doc, Miko's not here, neither is Everence, and I'm pretty sure Darkplague's doing something very rated-R right now, so I chose you to pester."

"Rated-R?' Ratchet asks, puzzled.

"Knockout's in with her." Gesturing to the hallway, I shrug.

He doesn't seem surprised. "Was wondering when Knockout would be disappearing into her berthroom."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down, and keep quiet, the others are sleeping. Twelve forty five at night, right?" Ratchet hushes me. "Knockout is the one that freed her from the lab; the only one that was her friend during the torturing she went through, he was the only one that didn't want to harm her. They were best friends. But there's one thing I do know: Darkplague is fiercely loyal. She knows her cause comes first. I trust her to seek comfort from an old friend without harming the Autobots."

I just nod.

~~
Darkplague's POV:

We sit on the bench; Knockout has a protective arm around me, and is comforting me. Earlier he offered to move to the berth because it would be more comfortable, but then i slapped him and told him never.

"Plague, what about Scourge..." He says.

"What about the slagger?"

"You know your going to... kill a lot of Risen warriors. It's... it's going to waken Scourge and he'll take over, because you'll feel the same need to kill..."

"No. I can control it. Rodinum trained me. I can do it." I growl.

But I was wrong.