One Shots/Drabbles

For Tailgate

Canon divergent drabble for Lost Light. Mentioned character death.

- - -

It took Whirl a while to find her, but when he did she was in the place he least expected her to be in.

The medbay.

She was breaking a medical tray, clawing and biting at the thing. She almost looked like a feral mechanimal, vicious and single minded.

"I could maybe deal with one of you being like this, but not both of you." Whirl said, casually leaning against the medberth. He didn't do 'feelings' or 'comforting' very well but he was good at one thing, pissing people off.

"Then go away." She hissed, and continued tearing apart metal with her recently sharpened claws.

Whirl made a quick mental note of that, before looking away from her, "Nah." He said simply, "...You know Ratchet and Velocity are going to kill you once they find that, right?"

Eclipse snorted, "Please, Ratchet... h-he's..." She shook her helm, "Velocity should just be glad it isn't Anode I'm clawing apart."

"She didn't know."

"I know."

The pair lapsed into silence after that, Eclipse was still reeling from... what Fort Max had just told them, and the fear of almost losing Swerve again. Whirl didn't know what to say - he wasn't... like him. He didn't know what to do to make the hurting go away.

Eclipse finally ripped the tray into two smaller halves, "Are you done yet?" She asked bitterly, "Shouldn't you be with Cyclonus. Or apologising to Swerve."

"We both know I'm not gonna do that," Whirl stated, clacking his claws, "Besides, it was hilarious."

Eclipse turned to sharply glare at him, optics blazing with pure fury, "That bomb could have detonated. We could had lost both of them!" She snapped, "And... And after what just happened! Do you really think that's okay, Whirl?! He-He's-" Her optics dimmed, "He's gone."

Whirl shrugged, "Okay, maybe it's funnier out of context."

"It isn't funny in any context. He tried to off himself Whirl." She snarled, "Maybe the only reason he even tried to stop talking was to make sure the rest of us didn't die!"

That hit close to home. Then again, it did for both of them.

Okay, maybe he was starting to see why she was so angry with him.

She threw one of the metal pieces onto the ground with a shout, proceeding to stamp on it and use her thrusters to try and melt it for good measure.

"I hate this dumb ship! I hate the Lost Light! I hate Rodimus for making us go on this dumb quest! I hate you for doing all the stupid horrible slag you've done! I hate Cyclonus and Tailgate and Swerve for making me care!" Her optics were spitting static, "I hate myself for caring. About the Lost Light. About the dumb knights. About my stupid, awful friends. For..." She sighed, "For forgetting."

"Just because you move on doesn't mean you forget. Trusting people again after losing someone doesn't make you an idiot." Whirl looked at her again, "It makes you better."

She sunk down on her knees, "Maybe I don't wanna get better. Maybe I just wanna stay in a hole in the ground and be sad."

"Do you remember what you told me on Hedonia?" Whirl asked, "'Misery is comfortable, that's why you prefer it. You have to work to be happy.'"

"I'm tried of working." She sighed, "I kinda just wanna die."

"And why don't you?"

She glared up at him, Whirl stared directly into her optics until her gaze softened, "He wouldn't have wanted that. The others need me, Cyclonus is a mess, Swerve was dying seven minutes ago, you're a walking disaster and..." She paused, "He would have wanted someone to take care of you guys."

"Why you, then?" Whirl asked.

She laughed, "Because I take care of everyone else when I don't know how to take care of myself. Cyclonus was a nice deviation from that, but I have to put the work in now." She shrugged, "I don't know how, but I have to keep us all stable, all together, less... stabby." She exhaled, "For Tailgate."

Whirl nodded solemnly, "For Tailgate." He repeated under his breath.