Drum Roll, Please

Chapter 20: One Step

Summer managed to slip back into a dreamless sleep. She laid on her stomach, body rising and falling gently, in sync with a quiet snore each time she inhaled. White bandages stuck out under the top of her shirt, holding her fragile body together. Ultra Magnus stared at her, wondering how someone so small could cause so much trouble.

He didn't know what they were going to do about her. Considering how she'd attacked them at their base before, she could be taken over at any moment. They didn't know how the connection worked. Did the Decepticons know where they were right now? What if the Nemesis was hovering overhead right now, about to release a payload of bombs or a fleet of vehicons? As long as Summer was laying right there, the entire Autobot cause was in danger.

And yet, Ultra Magnus was just sitting on a stool, watching her with a thoughtful expression. Ratchet and Nurse Darby came in from time to time, checking up on her and Optimus. The rest of the team rarely even came into the medbay and as far as he had heard, nobody was panicking about the ticking time bomb.

"Still in here?" Ratchet asked, pulling the door out and walking inside. He barely glanced at Ultra Magnus as he checked Optimus's vitals, looked over his frame, and prodded a few wounds. "He's getting better."

"When is he going to wake up?"

"I don't know," Ratchet looked over Optimus's back. "One part of me knows he should have already woke up, but the other part of me knows he was dead. You aren't supposed to wake up from that. I guess the better question is whether or not he'll ever wake up."

Ultra Magnus looked down at their leader. "We need him to come back."

"Believe me, I know," Ratchet replied. "But maybe he doesn't want to."

Summer's attack hit everyone hard. The base was quieter in the day and louder at night. Ultra Magnus could see the change in everyone's optics. They'd seen their worst nightmares come to life. Ultra Magnus was trying his hardest to ignore the vision he'd seen. His nightmares didn't come from dark futures like most people, they were scenes he'd already been through. Deaths in his past. He'd been living through it already.

That attack hit Optimus harder than it hit anyone else. He was the leader of a war, responsible for the future of their people and their planet. Magnus didn't know what he saw, but he knew it was terrible. It was terrible enough to make the strongest mech alive tear himself apart.

"Optimus doesn't make decisions based off his own needs," Ultra Magnus said lowly.

"Maybe he should." Ratchet left the room.

Ultra Magnus frowned. "But then he'd be dead?"

"What is death compared to a life of misery?" Summer asked. He looked down at her and she was sitting up, looking at him with those big, innocent eyes.

"How long have you been awake for?" he asked.

"Not long," Summer picked at her cast.

He nodded and looked away, pondering her question with a frown. "We can't beat Megatron without Optimus."

"Can Optimus beat Megatron without himself?" Summer sniffed. "I know that some people... they don't recover."

"I can't afford to think like that."

Summer nodded. "Okay."

He looked at the ceiling, remembering the countless moments where Optimus picked him off his feet and told him to be strong. Optimus did that for everyone. The Decepticons started a war on their planet, sending everyone else into a state of terror. Optimus picked their entire planet up. He was the guiding star of their people.