Who Guards the Guardians? (TFP/Bayverse crossover)

Survive... That's all I need you to do

[Optimus POV]

It has been nearly three weeks since Rachel's return, and during that time, I have come to realize something rather..... unsettling. I do not know what to think of it, and I cannot deny that I hadn't notice this until her capture. When she was gone, I was completely.... irrational. It was as if my processor could not concentrate without her knowing gaze from my shoulder or her soft smile that she gave me anytime we talked. Although I know it is impossible for anything to happen due to..... very noticeable differences....

I have grown to.... enjoy her company more than most.

It seems that this was growing obvious after these past few weeks, as I am now currently sitting by her bedside once more, monitoring her unstable vitals. It was the fourth spike this week of her energon levels dropping to fatal levels, and it was only Tuesday. Worry was heavy on my spark, and I would be lying if I said I could simply handle this as if she was only another soldier.

But she is not.

I do not know if Rachel feels the same way, and I flick my optics to her resting form. Her once bright blue eyes, now dim and flickering, are currently closed and her breathing is starting to steady once more. After her last burst to make it through the portal, and the wounds she sustained during her escape, we have had to use up most of our energon supplies to keep her alive, as her systems were starved and have only gone through each dose within the hour.

I hear pedsteps behind me, and I do not have to turn to know who they belong to. Ratchet lays his servo on my shoulder, and I only lean forward under it. "Optimus..... There is something you need to see." His tone towards the end forces me to gaze at him, and I spot the uncertainty in his optics. My own optics narrow, and he gestures with his helm towards the direction he had just come from. 

Cautiously I stand. With one last glance towards the young Rachel's vitals, I follow my old friend into the main hangar. Once there, I feel my spark grow worrisome, as everyone from the team, including Jack and William, were waiting for us. Their eyes were low and heads hanging, and my spark sank. As we walk closer, I see every Autobot is holding the same expression, and Smokescreen was leaning against a wall near the exit, looking away. Wheeljack was walking away, his peds heavy.  Once we make it in front of the monitors, I slowly raise my optics to them.

What I see makes my spark nearly come to a halt.

It was a current x-ray of Rachel, showing the unstoppable growth from the predacon bone spreading. It had completely created a new rib in place of the one that had been.... removed.... but the trauma her body sustained caused it to continue....

And it was overtaking her entire body.

Nearly 80% of her bone matter was covered in the tendrils, and they were fusing together, seemingly crushing the bones underneath to make room. I turn to Ratchet, and he shakes his helm. "The pain she should be feeling hasn't been evident... It may be partly due to the extra resident in her mind.... But, Optimus.... If this keeps up..." He didn't need to finish. Although the pain may be dulled, it was obvious this was the cause of her spark problems. 

It wasn't just energon related anymore. Because her bones were being destroyed and replaced, her blood levels were drastically dropping and energon was barely keeping up the pace to replace it. Not only that, but, upon closer inspection, I could find the tendrils spreading to her internal organs. The tendrils were encompassing them, and I could see Ratchet point to an area where a large amount of CNA was present. "The tendrils have completely covered her right kidney, and if they continue to do what they have done to her bones, the stress on her body could be too much. Her spark is still new, and after all the trauma it has been in already..."