When All Lights Go Out II (TFP)

Chapter 9

Optimus stared at the large tree as it towered over the plain. The black, charred tree with the purple mist around it seemed to still have fruit on the branches. But the fruit was sickly and unfit to eat, so this tree was a symbol much like the knights that were still by the river. They were still waiting for a chance to strike, but they could not cross the river, due to it being very deep. Optimus did not know what exactly the tree and these knights all meant to Azura, but he had to think very deeply about it, because even if this was Unicron's doing, this didn't seem like a heap of power over his daughter, but it was enough to hold her back.

"This is not good," Ratchet commented, as he was also watching intently. The children and the autobots were worried about this new development Azura was seeing in her dream, and it might hold the sparkling in her dream for longer. Ratchet glanced at the vitals and noticed Azura's spark pulse rate was increasing again, and Optimus's body was responding to try and calm the sparkling's stress. He huffed loudly and walked over to a shelf to grab a vial of liquid. "I'm going to have to try and manage both Optimus's and Azura's systems while they deal with this."

"Is it even possible while Azura is within Optimus?" Jack questioned in concern. Ratchet noddied affirmatively as he filled a syringe with the liquid. "Maybe a calm spark will help. But..." He looked at the screen with a deep frown. "That tree almost feels like a metaphor, and maybe a mockery."

"What do you mean by that, Jack?" Optimus questioned as he was listening while still thinking of what was happening. "I do not see this as a mockery..."

"It could be, Optimus. I only say this because, if Unicron really is at play here, or it could be an affect of the dark energon, this could really be just Azura's fear feeding into this dream and making it stronger. Or she is too focused on it, and making it harder for her to just break out of the dream." Jack was not so sure on that though, as he was only assuming. "And fear can be pretty strong in keeping someone in control. That could be what is happening here. And that tree might only be a metaphor for how deep that control currently is."

"But it wouldn't be here if it was a metaphor," Azura responded nervously. She stood close to Optimus as they both stare at the tree. "I don't get it."

Jack smiled as he knew she might not get it. "You forget that dreams are the place where anything can happen, Azura. A tree like that would not exist outside of a dream, but inside a dream, it definitely could exist."

Ratchet walked back to Optimus's body to inject the serum into his arm, knowing it should help to relax Azura's pulse rate. It will take time before Optimus's body would deliver that serum to Azura's body, so he had to make sure he was taking action about it now before it was too late. Otherwise, Azura's system could get overworked and Optimus's system could shut off connections to the sparkling and cause her to perish. Ratchet was not willing to allow that to happen.

"Jack is not wrong, Azura." Optimus looked down at his daughter and smiled at her as she looked back at him. "Anything can be imagined in a dream, even a tree like that. But if Jack is right, there is a lot of fear here. But we do not yet know if that is a hundred percent true."

"Maybe..." Azura looked at the tree and shuddered, looking away from it again with a whimper. "But...it seems like a giant weed to me...but I don't know how to destroy it. The knights and the tree..."

Miko hummed thoughtfully, and she seemed to be counting with her fingers. She was thinking deeply about it and she rubbed her chin. "War, Death, Pestilence, Famine, Decay, Hatred and a giant, sickly tree..." Jack and Raf look at Miko as the girl was speaking out loud while thinking on it. "It almost feels like that tree and those knights are kind of the same."

Raf was immediately confused. "How does that work in your mind, Miko?"

"Well..." Miko bit her lower lip thoughtfully, still tapping the fingers on her left hand with her right index finger. "The thing with weeds, they grow anywhere. We all know that. They find a crack in the cement and are able to put their roots down. Weeds also take the nutrients from other plants, and they are not beneficial to the soil."