Prodigal Son

Chapter 17

Frankie squeezed the necklace pendant, absently looking over at the bed.
It had been about a week he'd been gone, and now three days he'd been out.
".... I miss you, Cody..."
They were always afraid of growing apart.
It came back to her now, old conversations.
"Heh, so you think one of us is gonna turn into an evil villain?"
"No, not that part! The part about best friends, drifting away from each other!"
Oh, the irony...
It was just a joke. Just a stupid joke.
.... Yet now, she felt like she jinxed it all.
Frankie sighed, slumping over.
"... I... I took a look at the data, from Graham and my dad's scans. I saw how the Moor-Bot corrupted your mind, and.... We saw.... That you weren't lying."
Frankie recalled what she'd overheard, the frantic whispers between her parents and Graham.
The whispers they wanted to keep secret.
The whispers she wasn't supposed to hear.
"... You really meant some of what you said, didn't you? Your anger over being left behind, saying we hurt you, that was all real."
They'd known from the beginning. But... This was the first time it was said aloud.
It felt like breaking some unwritten vow.
"The Moor-Bot was corrupting your natural autonomy and impulses, but at the root of things... It was really you. It always was."
She sighed, then looked down at the pendant.
She ran her fingers around it, squeezed it, her hand tight around the diamond shape.
".... I guess I was always afraid it was a sign. Every time we worried about growing up without each other. .... I was always too quick to blame you, Cody."
She let go of the necklace, and slowly stood up from her chair.
She walked right to the side of the bed.
His right hand was hooked up to IVs. The doctor had mentioned he was a bit dehydrated, and malnourished.
Carefully, slowly, she reached out, grabbing his hand.
".... I miss you... Cody... Come back to us... Please.."
His hand was limp in hers.
She rubbed the dry, scratched up skin.
She glanced up at the clock on the wall, then yawned.
Her shift was almost up. She was pretty sure Chief was next.
She glanced down at Cody's pale face, then sighed.
"... Not giving up on you."
She went to pull away,
Then felt her heart beat into her throat.
Her gaze fell down.
Cody's hand had tightened around hers.
-
Kade stretched his back, wincing as he felt a pop.
He stood up, his jaw tight.
He had to admit, Heatwave did look better.
The wound had been fully repaired, Energon levels normal.
Stretched out on the table, he didn't have as clear a view as he did when Heatwave was in the stasis tube, but the image of the scars gouged in his metal seemed to be burned into his brain.
Kade started pacing around the table, almost not registering his own actions.
"... In TV and junk, they'll sometimes talk to coma patients. Then they'll wake up, tearfully say they heard everything. .... I don't know, if you can hear me or not. Cybertronian comas probably aren't like human comas. Or maybe they are. I... I don't know..."
His hands clenched tight, his jaw almost aching from how strong it was set.
"... We're falling apart, Heatwave. We're falling apart. Doc had to threaten dad with a syringe to get him to go to bed, Graham hasn't let go of his computer in days, Dani spends half her time glued to Frankie and the other half just running around, and... And I can't force myself to go the hospital. I can't. I can't see him. .... I'm pathetic."
Kade's hand drifted to his forehead, feeling the bandages there.
He thought back to the meeting in the tunnels.
Cody's sneering, jarring face, happily slamming his skull against the rock.
"... Just two weeks ago, we were riding around. Joking. It was... Normal. .... Everything is just... Gone, now. And... We all know. We all know that nothing can ever be what it was. Everything is just.... Changed. No going back."
He pulled out his phone, his stride breaking as he scrolled through his old photos.
He stopped on one, his breath hitching.
He, Cody, and Heatwave all making stupid faces into the camera.
Heatwave had partially lifted Cody by his jacket, and Cody was using the newfound height to shove Kade's face.
The phone shook as his hand trembled.
Why?
Why did he have to bear the curse of last man standing?
Kade whipped around, his fist colliding with the wall as his phone fell to the floor.
"... It should've been me."
The words seemed to scream in his brain, sinking their claws into every corner of his psyche as the world dipped and churned.
"... It should've been me..."
Cody didn't deserve to be in the hospital.
Heatwave didn't deserve to be lifeless on the table next to him.
It should've been him.
It should've been him. 
Suddenly, a noise cut through the static.
Kade was jerked back to reality by the buzzing of his phone, and forced a breath through his lungs as he fumbled with his phone.
Graham's named flashed onscreen, and Kade took a minute, before accepting.
"Graham?"
"Kade! Where are you?"
"Where do you think?"
"Right, right. Look, Kade. You need to get to the hospital, now."
Kade sighed, a hand scraping his scalp.
"Graham, you know I can't. Sorry, but i-"
"Kade."
Graham's tone was suddenly different. Forceful, stern.
"Frankie just sent out a mass call over the comns."
Kade could feel his pulse quickening.
... It couldn't be...
"Kade. Cody just woke up. And he asked for you."
The phone slipped from his hands.
He didn't even hear the clatter as he ran, his feet forcing him towards the groundbridge as fast as possible.
-
"Hello? Kade? Kade, are you there?"
Graham frowned at the crash, but after failing to get a response, he sighed, and hung up.
No time to think about it now.
-
Frankie couldn't stop the tears flowing from her eyes, even as she smiled.
His eyes had cavernous dark circles under them, the insides leaking fresh tears into the dry scalera as the lids cracked open.
"... H..ey..."
His voiced cracked, the throat dry, his breath wheezing.
Frankie only held his hand tighter.
"... Hey..."
She used her foot to kick the chair over, sitting down.
"... I can't believe you're awake..."
He coughed slightly, his voice slightly muffled by the oxygen mask.
"... How... Lo...ng..."
"... You've been out for three days."
His eyes widened, then seemed to slump.
"Heatwave... Heatwave..."
Frankie's breath hitched.
"... He's alive, Cody. He's alive. You... You've both been in a coma since the fight."
Cody tried sitting up, but imedianty sank back into the sheets.
"... I did bad things.... I did terrible things..."
His voice broke, a sudden wetness.
His head turned, and Frankie felt a pang in her heart as his eyes latched the toys of the bots.
Well....
One bot in particular.
".... I did bad things..."
Frankie squeezed his hand.
"You'd never do that normally. It was the Moor-Bot making you do it. It forced you to."
Cody's head turned, his eyes pained as he gazed at her.
".... I don't think it forced me...."
-
Kade tore through the hospital faster than he thought possible.
People glanced at him as he threw open doors and crashed through halls, and everyone stayed out of his path.
They could tell he was on a mission.
Finally he turned the hall, the crash sharply ringing through the hall as he threw open one more door.
"CODY!!!"
Everyone in the room jumped and turned to stare, as Kade loomed in the doorway, his face red and his breath ragged. He looked borderline deranged.
Graham stood first, motioning for him to quiet down.
"Kade, calm. Calm. We don't want to crowd him, okay? We need to be gentle."
Kade peeked around Graham's shoulder, his breath tight.
Dani, his dad, Doc, Baranova, all lingered around the room.
But Frankie was leaned right over the bed, Cody's hand holding her tight.
Frankie glanced over at his entrance, and she wasn't alone.
"... Kade?"
Everyone fell silent as Cody looked over.
Everyone moved aside as Kade strode up, dropping to his knees.
"Hey buddy...."
Cody pulled his hand out of Frankie's hand.
He slowly raised it out.
He pressed his hand against Kade's forehead, right against the bandages.
Kade was frozen in place, and noticed Cody's own bandages for the first time.
They had forehead bandages in about the same places, both having suffered a concussion.
Cody stared into his eyes, then his own became soft.
".... I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry...."
Kade grasped his hand tight, delicately sliding an arm around him.
"Buddy.... It wasn't you... It wasn't real.... It's over now... It's over..."
He pulled Cody close, rubbing his back.
"It's over... It's over...."
Kade felt that numbness settle in once again, but it was different this time.
He pulled Cody close, his eyes training on the wall behind him.
Never.
Again.
He rubbed his brother's back, his grip slowly growing tighter.
He would never loose his baby brother again.
And that was a promise he was willing to die to uphold.
-
Heatwave stared up at the sky.
The natural yellows, oranges, and red seemed to speak to him.
It was like the flare of a dying Phoenix.
"It's getting late. We should head home."
Cody played with his giant hand, and Heatwave couldn't help the chuckle as he pouted.
"I don't want to go yet."
"Heh... That's not like you. Everything okay, kid?"
Cody seemed.... Unprepared for that question.
His expression went blank, before he blinked.
"Yeah, fine."
Heatwave frowned.
That was odd...
"Besides, we've got plenty of time."
"Not really, it's-"
He looked up, only for his Optics to purse in confusion.
The sky had... Changed.
It was much earlier than it looked seconds before.
.... What was going on?
-
Optimus gazed down at Heatwave's inert form.
"... I... Wish to inform you, if you can register this. ... Cody Burns... Is awake."
The prime placed a hand on Heatwaves's chest, avoiding the previously wounded areas. 
"... He is here because of you. You brought him back to his senses. You... have made the ultimate sacrifice."
His hand moved to Heatwave's chin, looking at his slack features.
".... I am reminded, of how much you have grown. And.... I.... I regret not saying that I am proud of the leader you have become."
The Prime's stature weakened. He looked aside, his optics heavy.
".... Your mission is not over, Heatwave. You are still needed here. That boy still needs you. This family still needs you."
He couldn't say where Heatwave was, inside.
Optimus just hoped to Primus that he would find his way back.