Taiyoo Soshite Tsuki
(Sun and Moon)
By: Sinead
Prologue, Part Two
Year 5874
Rattrap looked to Rhinox, disbelievingly. "’Ya . . . ’ya can’t be serous, Rhinox . . . ’e made it though th’ night?!"
Rhinox nodded gravely. "What’s more, is that he was looking better as well."
Optimus shook his head. "Who would have thought?"
Silverbolt looked at the door, behind which lay the bot. He blinked his yellow optics, hearing a low noise from the room. He turned his muzzle-like face back towards Rhinox, who was deep in thought. "He, um, he said a word . . . or a name, sir."
"Tsuki. I know. I only wonder what he’s talking about," Rhinox said sadly. He continued in a murmur, "His Spark is unnaturally strong . . ."
"What was that?" Optimus asked.
Rhinox looked at his leader, then sighed, and sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. I’m going back in, to see if his vital signs are steadying yet. He might even be conscious by now."
Before anyone could say anything, before they could ask him anything else, he entered the sickbay, and closed the door after him. He knew that Dinobot wouldn’t be awake yet. Not with the wounds that he sported over his entire frame. They were deep, and numbered many. Rhinox had done the best he could, with the limited amount of supplies, but something was odd about the whole deal.
Dinobot had healed. Not repaired himself, but actual healing, as an organic being would. None of the Beast Warriors, whether Maximal or Predacon, had that ability.
None, but Rampage.
Rhinox shook his head. Dinobot’s Spark could be seen though this chestplate, pulsing, but the rate at which it pulsed neither completely matched a normal Cybertronian’s, nor even Rampage’s Spark unique pulse-rate. It was something else, something that Rhinox didn’t understand, even through he had measured the beat intervals carefully, thinking that he had made a mistake.
He returned his mind to the task at hand, and he moved swiftly and silently, for one of his size. Finally, once he was sure that Dinobot was still on his way to stabilizing, he sat on a stool, then watched the warrior’s uneven, labored breathing. His gaze shifted to Dinobot’s optics, which were black.
Yet, his voice was strong, if hoarse.
"Where . . . is she?"
Rhinox put his hand upon the bot’s shoulder, hoping that he wouldn’t try to get up. He knew that at times Dinobot had forgotten how strong he was, and had managed to surprise himself back into proper behavior. "Tell me who, Dinobot. Who are you talking about?"
"Tsuki . . . my Tsuki . . ." His voice seemed to almost change, as it faded, and he then seemed to be younger for a moment. "Please . . . please tell me she wasn’t taken again . . ."
With a jump, Dinobot was fully awake, but Rhinox’s hand kept him pinned to the bed. "You get up, I’ll knock you flat on your skidplate faster than you can blink. Who was taken? Why?"
Dinobot looked up, his face worried. "I . . . I spoke?"
Rhinox nodded, puling his hand away. "Yes, about someone. You seemed worried about her. You were worried about her being taken again. It was an odd name . . . something almost Japanese, I’m guessin’."
His face fell. "Tsuki."
"You called her your own."
"In a way . . . she was."
Rhinox sighed. "I’m not going to tell the others that you’re awake yet. You need your rest, and I have to make sure that you’re on your way to recovery."
"You want to know who she is, don’t you," Dinobot said quietly.
The technician chuckled, then replied, "Everything has its time and place, Dinobot. That, and there’s nothing that you can do about it."
Dinobot nodded slowly, then relaxed back upon the bed, and whispered, "But . . ." He sighed. "Tell Primal something, if you would."
"And that is?"
"‘Taiyoo is here.’ He’ll understand."
Optimus looked at Rhinox, his face showing his complete shock. "Dinobot said . . . what?!"
"‘Taiyoo is here.’ What does it mean?"
The leader didn’t answer. His optics darted for a moment around the room before coming to rest upon his hands with a sigh. "You’ll wish that I’ve never told you, old friend. But I will. Now I understand why Dinobot survived the valley, and why he acted the way he did around me."
Rhinox sat, and watched the younger bot, who had been holding a great secret for far too long. "Optimus, you’re as close as a younger brother to me. Tell me."
He sighed. "It officially started when I was twelve by Terran years. Experiments by the Tripredacus Council were secretly being made, trying to combine our own race, with humans." He stopped, and then hissed, "Slag it, but that would explain his behavior!"
Rhinox blinked once. "Optimus."
The younger bot blinked, then seemed sheepish. "Sorry. I only remembered something. Those experiments were at the same time that the Protoform X project was being done, but by the Maximal Elders." He gained the gaze of his technician, and said, "It didn’t start out too well . . ."