Erased Memories (TFP)

#18

ENTRY: 16/6/2021

"No, no, no..." Ioa muttered, holding her helm with her cuffed servos. The team looked at her quizzically. Ratchet sputtered undignifiedly.

"You w-want us to k-kill you!?" he said, optics wide. Ioa didn't reply him, still lost in her own thoughts. Optimus gently touched the femme's shoulder, hoping to snap her out of her trance only for the femme to shy away from him.

"Please don't, I can't anymore..." Ioa said, shoulders sagging. Optimus's optics softened and sat down on the berth with her. He spoke, hoping to get the femme off of her depresssing mood.

"You said that I'm your sparkmate; was I good to you?" Optimus suddenly asked. Ioa snapped her helm towards him, shocked.

"Of course you were good to me, you fragging idiot!" Ioa blurted out, forgetting that the mech across him was not the Optimus she loved. Ioa groaned and slapped her helm back onto her servos, not caring that her supposedly teammates were staring at her incredulously.

Optimus said nothing as he sat by her side, watching Ioa quietly.

"So... you guys are sparkmates...?" Bulkhead spoke up, not liking the awkward silence. Ioa looked up to him and smiled sadly.

"Was..." Ioa said, looking down to her chassis. The bond she made with her lover was gone without a trace.

Was this all a dream?

"Do you remember how you got here?" Ratchet asked, looking at her with curiosity. Ioa shook her helm, her mood still down.

"I woke up only to find myself in my old Decepticon dorm. I specifically remembered I was at the base with Optimus before we headed for a recharge..." Ioa said. Ratchet went silent as he looked down for a moment, processing her statement before giving his opinion.

"Perhaps you don't belong to our timeline then. It would explain your spark has yet to be bonded; you're travelling through time." Ratchet said hypothetically, but Ioa felt off.

If she did travel through time, why was Shadowgylde awaken?

"According to our data, you- or well- the original you- had many powers, and trust me when we say you made many havocs to us." Ratchet began, strangely feeling bad for the femme in front of him. He has encountered her before, but during those times she was in her alter ego form, scary and ruthless.

"Your skills matched Megatron and Optimus themselves, holding your own against the five of us at one point." Ratchet said. Ioa grasped her thigh, cheeks redden in embarassment and a pang of guilt hit her. 

"I'm sorry, I swore to hide my powers away from them..." Ioa said, wiping her optics with her cuffed servos. Optimus set his servo on hers, hoping to bring her a sense of security.

"Thanks, big buy." Ioa said absent-mindedly. If the Prime was shock, he said nothing as he gave her a soft nod. Ioa teared up at the mech and cracked a smile.

"You're such a softie even in other reality, aren't you?" Ioa chuckled sadly at the Prime. Optimus raised an optic ridge in amusement and perhaps in slight happiness at his success on making her feel better.

"Am I now? Please, enlighten us." Optimus said, gesturing to his teammate with one of his servos. Ioa looked at them and sighed, missing her family.

"You're still you, per se. But you're quite the stubborn mech, Optimus." Ioa laughed lightly at the memory of her chewing off the Prime. "You got told off by me and Ratchet a few times, but above all, you never fail to shower kindness to every sentient being and always ensured the human's safety over anything." Ioa sighed. Arcee hummed, nodding along with the femme's words.