His Spark, Her Soul

Chapter 3

Bulkhead stood up as quickly as he could, "I'm sorry Doc, I didn't mean to." "Bulkhead I needed-!" I paused my sentence, not only was my project destroyed but so was my wrench. "Clearly you all seem to have forgotten that we are all in a war here. You're not sparklings anymore so stop acting like it!" I was beyond rage and narrowed my optics at all of them. The base fell silent, all staring at me with astonishment. "It was just an honest mistake Ratchet, I didn't mean to break your thing." Bulkhead spoke softer. "You always break my stuff in the heat of excitement from your childish games!!" I was done being the nice guy, "I forbid you to make any kind of noise or play any kind of games whatsoever inside this base!" Before marching off to my own room.

No pov
"He's not serious, is he?" Miko asked as she looked over at Bulkhead, who shrugged. He had never seen Ratchet so angry before. No one had. Arcee walked over to the project, trying to see if they could salvage any of it and maybe even fix it. "Bulkhead, you broke his wrench." She grabbed the old worn down wrench and held the two pieces out to Bulkhead to see. "It was an accident." He spoke up, he felt so guilty. "It's just a wrench, why did he get so angry about something he could replace so easily?" Miko asked as Optimus Prime walked in, the atmosphere caught his attention, and he joined the group; just catching the end of Miko's question. "It is not just a wrench, Miko. It was made specifically for Ratchet by someone who is very dear to him." "Then why can't this person just fix it?" Jack asked as he rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. Optimus looked at the young man and then lowered his gaze, "They never made it off of Cybertron." "Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying that old Doc Bot has a sad backstory?" Miko questioned, "I thought we knew everything about him and he's just grumpy all the time." "It's a story he wishes to never share, a burden he has carried for years." Optimus answered, he never thought this story would ever rear it's ugly head again, yet here it was. "A burden?" Arcee asked him. "Tell us!" Miko said urgently, "I want to know!" Optimus looked at everyone, clearly they also wanted to hear the story but it wasn't his to tell, "I can't-" "Please! There's no way that Doc would tell us!" Miko pleaded. Optimus let out a breath and shook his helm no as Jack tapped Miko on her shoulder and said "Let's just give Ratchet some space, time does not always heal our wounds." She nodded, admitting defeat, "You're right."
The base became quieter as the days went on. Everyone saw less and less of Ratchet as he remained in his own room, unable to stay around the rest. It was a pain he had mastered at hiding. Masking it well, and nearly forgotten about and now it loomed over him like a giant dark storm cloud. He did his best to just sleep and one day out in the main room of the base Optimus grabbed his shoulder before he could walk off and sulk even more. "Ratchet, I think it's time you share your burden with everyone, keeping everything bottled up isn't helping you but hurting." Ratchet was quick to jerk out of his grip but stayed, staring as if he was trying to decide whether or not to openly live through his pain again.
The base was silent, all waiting for an answer, luckily no humans here, "I can't-" Ratchet began but stopped and sighed. He looked so exhausted, as if he hadn't been sleeping at all. "I don't want to relive that nightmare." Bumblebee gave his Ratchet a pleading look, "Please Ratchet, I know it's painful but it will help." The younger bot walked over and pulled the elder into a hug, "Please." Ratchet, after getting out of the hug, made him way over to his station and sat down on one of the berth, "It's a long story, if you'd really want to get to know her."

Níki's house pained me to see her live in such a horrible place. I shook my helm and frowned, "You live here?" I couldn't wrap the thought around my helm. She nodded, "Yup, for as long as I can remember this little cafe has been my home." She hurried over with energon snacks, "Here," Handing them to Breakdown, who quickly took the snacks and began to munch down, "It's nice." Knockout wandered around and glanced over to me with a look, thinking about something before he grinned widely. He sauntered over to Níki and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his side "I have an idea Doll." The mere sight of them made me gag in my helm and I just narrowed my optics at Knockout, who gave me a smug look as Níki asked him about his idea. "Why don't you stay with me and Breakdown?" He suggested and her optics lit up with excitement "Really?" Breakdown glanced at his partner with confusion, who held up a digit to shush him as I just glared, "That's a stupid idea! You two are just going to cause her more problems with her schooling than helping her!" "Oh, you think so?" Knockout asked in a calm tone and I nodded, "I know so!" "Then why don't you let her stay with you so you can continue to tutor her?" "I will!" I spoke before I realized what I had said and Knockout grinned, "Then it's settled, Níki will stay with Ratchet for the remainder of the semester." Before I could protest, Níki squealed with delight and hurried off to gather her stuff. "That was smooth." Breakdown commented and I glared daggers at Knockout, "How dare-!" "How dare I what? Give Níki a proper place to live and continue her schooling?" Knockout interrupted me, glowing with pride. I muttered under my breath but didn't argue.