Wild Ride (Cyberverse Mech!reader X Hot Rod)

20: Memories Unfold

"Y/D! Why would you attempt such a thing?!" Windblade snapped at me as soon as we returned to the Ark.

"Uh oh." Bumblebee chuckled.

"Trying to control a bot's mind doesn't work like that of a titain! It's disgraceful and dangerous! You could have killed yourself or worse! You could have switched consciousness with Starscream!"

"Hey, lay off Y/D. He was doing what he thought was right." Hot Rod said.

"You wouldn't understand the sacrilege he committed by doing what he did." She said sternly. "How did you even learn that?! It's forbidden on many planets!" I paused a moment and shrugged in response to her wrath. "What do you mean you don't know? Where did you learn that dark art?!"

"Windblade, please calm yourself." Optimus said. "Y/D, explain what you mean."

*I don't know how I know, but I just do. There's a lot of things that I just know.* I signed to which Hot Rod translated.

"What do you mean?" Windblade asked, her tone softening a little.

*ever since I got Shatterfang, I've found I now know things that I didn't before.*

"Wait, what do you mean you know things?" Hot Rod asked.

*I think Shatterfang was some sort of memory bank as well as a weapon. I don't know how else to explain it.*

"It is not unheard of for ancient relics to possess hidden knowledge." Optimus said.

"Why would a weapon contain such a dark art?" Windblade asked. I shrugged in response.

"Another mystery to add to the Anomaly pile?" Cheetor suggested. I silently chuckled at him and shrugged.

"Just promise me you won't ever do anything like that again?" Windblade said. I nodded in response. "Good." I then turned my attention to Optimus and had a concerned look on my face.

*Starscream escaped, so what do we do?* I signed.

"We need to find where he went, but for now, I suggest everyone gets rest." I nodded and made my way to my habsuite as I became deeply engrossed in thought.

'If Shatterfang acts as an archive, maybe there's more in it than what I received when it bound to me? Maybe it can give me more answers like, I dunno, who made it? Why? What is an Anomaly? Ugh, there are too many stupid questions and not enough answers.' I thought with a sigh as I entered my hab suite. I then laid down on my berth and stared up at the ceiling as my mind continued to race with thoughts.

This sort of thing wasn't entirely unusual for me. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I rarely got any rest unless I was on the verge of crashing. But this time, my own thoughts became overwhelming with the sheer volume and speed of them. I tried to shake it off but couldn't. It got to the point where I gave up on laying down and decided to try and recollect my thoughts by meditating. I found a fairly quiet part of the Ark where the overnight bots were up and about, and I sat by myself off to the side with my legs crossed. I closed my optics and delved deep into my own mind, accessing the interface within myself.

'Okay, now let's see here. Where did this information come from?' I focused on the dark art and found several memory cells that all linked up to a severely damaged one of the void. 'Wait, why is that part of this? Maybe if I just...' I tried to focus on the damaged cell, and it shattered when I made contact with it. 'Gah! Okay, note to self, don't do that.' I grumbled as I gripped my head. I looked at the other cells and saw some had become more damaged than they were before and others repairing themselves somewhat. I reached for another cell, this one seeming to be glitching about like a broken viewfinder.

As I pulled in the memory, I saw glimpses of flashing and different versions of the same death scene passed through the memory. Over and over again, I failed to win against the many faced beings, and over and over again, I was killed. Each time I fell, I returned to the same void.

As the memory ended and rejoined with the repaired ones, I began to wonder what exactly that void was. Could it be some sort of prison that the many faced beings kept trying to put me in? Or was it just something that existed outside of space and time? I then searched for the creation of Shatterfang, hoping that the archival weapon left some trace behind. Once again, all data points lead to that void.

'Maybe this void itself is some sort of archive? Or... maybe it's like the Matrix of Leadership? No, no, that's stupid. A void can't be like that, can it? Ugh! This whole thing is frustrating beyond belief.' I was pulled from my mind when I heard footsteps aproach me, my optics opening and looking up to see Hot Rod.

"Couldn't recharge either?" He asked, to which I nodded. "Yeah, I kept thinking about where Starscream could have gone and... frankly, I'm a bit scared."

*you? Scared? Obsurd.* I signed with amusement. *I thought you weren't afraid of anything.*

"I'm not... well, at least not out loud." He chuckled as he sat next to me.

* Why are you afraid?*

"I don't know. It's stupid to be scared like this. I mean, sure, Starscream is a persistent and slippery idiot, but he has dangerous tools."

*fear is often a source of logic. Hot Rod. If you aren't at least a little bit afraid, you don't fully understand it.*

"I guess so. I just worry that I'll freeze up or something. Like... like what happened back in Kaon when you saved me. I um... I don't know why I'm telling you this."

*because you know I can't tell anyone?* I teased. Hot Rod let out a quiet laugh that made my spark flutter happily inside me.

"That's true, haha. But what has you awake?"

*the usual classic Y/D overthink.*

"You wanna talk about it?"

*nah, it's not important. Besides, it'd only bore you to death.*

"Hey, if it puts me to recharge, I'd take it." Hot Rod joked with a very tired yawn. He then leaned against me, and I was startled at first but allowed him to comfortably rest his head on my shoulder, his optics closing as he fell into recharge against me. Careful as to not wake him repositioned him so his head wad on my lap as my back pressed against the cool metal wall. It didn't take long g before I, too, slipped into recharge.