From Teens to Sparklings

Chapter 12 Guilt is an ugly emotion

Jack trotted back to the Autobots just as Miko and Raf onlined. Miko chirped in greeting, skipping over. Raf stretched and yawned, but stayed where he was, leaning into Bumblebee's tire with a sleepy face. Jack suddenly got a playful idea. He crouched, shifting into his true form. He growled softly and pounced onto Miko. The femme squeaked but soon retaliated, kicking her legs out and striking Jack in the belly, shoving him off. Jack rolled, sand flying up. He sneezed as sand got all over his muzzle, clogging his air vents. Miko laughed at the ridiculous noise. Jack glared and pounced again, biting her arm softly. 

Miko yelped, startled, and punched Jack in the jaw, sending the poor mech flying into a rock. Jack chirped in alarm as he hit the rock, wincing as his delicate metal was roughly scraped and scratched. Bits of rock embedded themselves into his back, and he hissed as they dug in when he moved. Miko's hands flew to her mouth in horror. She chirped an apology, running over to her friend. Raf squeaked and ran also, accidentally waking Ratchet.

Ratchet groaned as roused from recharge. He transformed and opened his optics, looking for what had woken him up. He inhaled sharply when he saw Jack slide down a rock, small splatters of energon streaking down its smooth surface. 

"Jack!" he shouted, striding over.

Optimus snapped awake at Ratchet's yell. He didn't even remember transforming, but apparently he had as he was now crouching beside Jack, holding him gently in the palm of his servo. The sparkling nuzzled his servo gently, whining softly. He turned to Ratchet, who was shooing away the other younglings, who were running back to their guardians anyways.

"What happened?" he asked, optics narrowed slightly.

Ratchet huffed, crossing his arms. 

"Don't look at me! He was like this when i onlined. The younglings must have been playing and an accident occurred. Here, give him to me, i'll take him inside." the medic said, gently taking Jack.

Jack gripped onto Optimus's servo, expecting to be dunked into a river again. Optimus gently lifted Jack up, placing him into Ratchet's waiting servos. 

"Go on. Ratchet will patch you up. I will come as well, if it makes you feel any better." he said, rubbing Jack's head affectionately. 

Jack purred, rubbing against the large digit. He settled into Ratchet's palm, who muttered something about him 'finally behaving'. He glared, but eventually just laid down as he was carried inside. The constant movement made him feel stressed, however, and the thought of flight entered his mind. 

As soon as the metal shine of the berth came into his view, he launched himself forward, wings snapping out. Unfortunately, gravity was different here than it was in the dream world, so he dropped out of the air. Jack screeched, until once again he was caught with expert care. He pressed himself into the warm metal, glancing up at the shocked and worried face of his Sire.

A new emotion flowed into him, settling cold and heavy in his belly. It squirmed and shifted, and Jack whined sadly, not fully understanding what it was, but knowing that he had done something wrong. 

'Guilt, young one. You are feeling guilty.'  SparkStarter said.

Guilt, Jack decided, was something he never wanted to feel again.