Chapter Text
“I’ll be right by your side.”
The words rang through his processor repeatedly, a background soundtrack to the horrid sight of Jazz carrying Prowl’s grey shell to the rest of them and the memory of strong, slender arms pulling him out of the force field and away from the blast radius as the last Omega Clone exploded.
His pride in his team and their accomplishments was overshadowed by the loss, and dimmed by sorrow. He could put on a façade, he discovered, but nothing could heal the broken pieces of his spark.
There was some debate about where Prowl should be interred. The council insisted that he should be memorialized in the Hall of Heroes, displayed for all future generations to see. Jazz and the rest of the team insisted that he be interred in the traditional ninja way, beneath Yoketron’s dojo and near the Well of Allsparks. Until an agreement was reached, Prowl was kept in the small medbay inside Omega Supreme with Optimus as his silent guardian.
Optimus was hiding and he knew it, but he couldn’t face anyone else right now. The loss was too fresh and his grief still to raw and painful. Losing Elita-1 had been hard, but losing Prowl was agony. He hadn’t realized how much the ninja meant to him until his world came crashing down with the sight of his greyed out frame.
Wearily, he set the stool Ratchet had left for him down next to Prowl’s bier and sat down heavily. He bowed his head over his friend’s corpse. “You said you’d be by my side in battle, but I would have faced them all alone if it meant you were here now.”
There was no answer, and he hadn’t expected one. There were, it seemed, no miracles left for this team.
Long minutes stretched into long hours. Finally exhaustion and grief took hold and forced Optimus into recharge.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Optimus?” The voice and a gentle touch to his shoulder brought him back out of recharge sometime later, but he was still so tired that it didn’t process. With a disgruntled noise, Optimus burrowed against the plating under his cheek plates and tried to slip back into recharge. “Optimus, wake up.”
“I’m tired, Prowl. Five more klicks. Please.” The voice chuckled and his processor continued to boot back up despite his attempts to go back into recharge. After a few moments, Optimus shot upright and looked at the mech on the bier. “Prowl?!”
The ninja, no longer the ash grey of deactivation, smiled. “I’m here, Optimus.”
The prime reached out with one hand and laid it tentatively on the warm metal of Prowl’s chest plates. “But you were deactivated. Jazz said you gave your spark to power the force field. How did you…?”
Prowl laid a hand over Optimus’. “I don’t know. I thought it was my time. But I am here.”
Impulsively, Optimus used his free arm to scoop the ninja up into a hug. The black and gold mech returned the fierce embrace with equal enthusiasm.
“We have to tell the others,” Optimus said after several minutes of holding Prowl tightly. “Jazz especially.”
The ninja nodded. “They need to know.”
Slowly, unwillingly, the prime drew back and let Prowl go. He wanted nothing more than to stay there and hold the other mech forever. As they stood up, the ninja gave him another smile.
“You know, I never thought that dying and being resurrected would be something we would have in common.”
Despite the strange state of being in between grief, relief and confusion he was feeling, Optimus laughed.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Ratchet sighed loudly as he pulled a scanner away from Prowl. He shook his head at the questioning looks from the other members of the team. “I’ve run every scan that it’s possible to run in the last three hours. There’s just nothing there that could explain his resurrection.”
“Ratchet,” Prowl’s voice was soft. “Does it really matter? Perhaps it’s best if you just accept it as the miracle it is and let it go.”
“Yeah,” Sari agreed from her perch in Jazz’s hand. “It’s not any different from the time I brought back Optimus with my key. You should just be glad that he’s here.”
The medic frowned. “Well, there wasn’t a key this time and the council is going to want to know exactly what happened when we tell them Prowl was miraculously resurrected.”
“We’ll deal with that when we tell them,” Optimus said, stepping up to the berth Prowl was sitting on and resting a hand on the ninja’s shoulder. “Right now, all that matters is that he’s back. Everything else can wait.”
Prowl raised a hand and rested it on Optimus’ wrist. “Yes, it can. As long as I’m uninjured?”
Ratchet glanced at their hands and both mechs immediately pulled apart. He gave them an amused huff. “Young bots. You’re fine, Prowl; go get some rest. You’ll need it, if I don’t manage to keep the science team away.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Despite the exhaustion creeping through his circuitry and into his processor, Optimus found he couldn’t recharge. It was just too much to take in all at once. Prowl had died in Detroit, and they had all been grieving and maybe even started to accept that the ninja was gone. Then he had been resurrected here on Cybertron just before Megatron’s trial, sending his emotions spinning in a hundred directions.
He was glad—desperately glad—that Prowl wasn’t dead. He was elated that he might actually have a chance to say all the things that he had let go unsaid. He was also conflicted because he was still trying to grieve, because Prowl’s presence now didn’t make the initial loss go away.
He wondered if the others felt the same way, but he wasn’t quite brave enough to ask.
Instead, he walked through the corridors of Omega Supreme in the hopes that he could either calm his thoughts enough to recharge or exhaust himself enough that he couldn’t fight his programming anymore. He had talked to the large mech a bit at first, but Omega was in recharge now—along with the rest of the team. Optimus wasn’t sure if he was glad no one else was around or if he desperately wanted company.
“You’ve walked by twice now.” Prowl’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. Looking around the corridor, Optimus spotted the ninja standing near a viewport, hidden in the shadows. “Are you all right?”
“Just thinking too much.” The prime walked over to the viewport and stopped next to the ninja. “Didn’t Ratchet tell you to rest?”
“He did.” Prowl gave him a small smile. “But apparently being dead for an extended amount of time makes it hard to shut down.”
“No,” Optimus said softly. “Not just being dead for an extended amount of time. It passes after the first few times you actually come back online again.”
The ninja’s smile faded. “I’m sorry. This must be bringing up things you would rather not remember.”
“Surprisingly, I haven’t really even been thinking about that.” The prime rested his head on the viewport wearily. “There are so many other things on my processor instead.”
“If you need to talk about it…” Prowl reached out and rested a hand on Optimus’ forearm.
Optimus shook his head. “No. I think this is something I have to work out on my own. But thanks.”
The ninja nodded, and then stepped out of the shadows to stand closer to the larger mech. “You’re welcome.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Ten days after his resurrection, the science team had Prowl in the medbay again. They had wanted to move him into their own facility, but everyone refused. Prowl was willing to allow them to study him, but only in an environment where he was comfortable. Optimus was relieved at that; he was afraid that if the science team took the ninja to their facility, he would never see him again.
And he was not prepared to lose the other mech again so soon.
The science team’s findings repeated Ratchet’s. None of them had any idea how Prowl had been resurrected, none of their tests showed any abnormalities in the ninja’s systems , and—possibly most importantly—nothing turned up a reason for him to have been brought back. The team was unhappy with their results—Perceptor especially—but they all agreed that nothing else could be found out without dismantling Prowl completely, a suggestion that had been met with growled threats and weapons drawn. After almost two Earth days of poking, prodding and scanning, the science team left Omega Supreme’s small medbay with no more information that they had come in with.
Prowl flopped backward onto the medical berth, visibly exhausted. “By the Allspark, I thought they’d never leave.”
Optimus gave him a weak smile in return. “I was afraid they would really try to take you with them.”
“I was confident that you wouldn’t allow them to violate my wishes.” The ninja returned his smile. “Assuming, of course, that I couldn’t have fought them off long enough to escape on my own.”
“And even if you both failed,” Ratchet interrupted, “Omega would have just closed the door. No one leaves this medbay unless I say they can.”
“Of course, Ratchet,” Prowl agreed neutrally.
The medic glared a bit. “Go on and get some rest. Without them here poking at your internals, there’s no reason for you to still be here.”
“Yes, Ratchet,” the black and gold mech said dutifully. He sat up and eased his way off the medical berth.
“Optimus, make sure he actually gets some fuel and recharge. Meditation won’t do slag for overworked systems.” Ratchet continued scowling, but expression was obviously forced.
The prime nodded. “I will Ratchet.”
“Good. Now both of you get. I’m due for a stasis nap myself.” Neither mech was surprised when the medic turned away without a proper goodbye. It was just his way.
Prowl gestured for Optimus to precede him out of the room. Once they were in the hallway, he gave the prime a small smile. “You really don’t have to escort me to my quarters. I have every intention of refueling and then recharging into sometime next week.”
“Next week, huh?” Optimus gave him a grin. “Sounds like you’ve been taking lessons from Sari.”
“Perhaps I’m just that tired.” The ninja gave the younger mech a tired smile in reply. “I seem to recall you having a similar response after Ratchet was finished with you.”
The prime nodded. Ratchet’s response at his resurrection—once they were away from public eyes, anyway—had been exhausting. “He definitely went easier on you than me. Maybe he’s just getting used to this miraculous resurrection idea.”
“I hope not too used to it. It’s not an experience I wish to repeat.”
“Me either.” Optimus shook his head, using the physical action to remove the negative thoughts that were creeping into his processor. He had better things to think about than Prowl dying again. “Are you recharging any better?”
“Mostly.” The ninja’s tone clearly said that he didn’t want to discuss it further. “I appreciate your concern, but—“
“I know.” The prime put a hand on the other mech’s shoulder. “I do understand. It isn’t easy to talk about. I won’t force you. But I will stay for a while, if it will help.”
“It might, yes.” Prowl gave him a small smile as they paused outside the door to his quarters. “Thank you.”