Ignorance is Bliss

Chapter 8: Suffocation

"His pulse is stabilizing." Nurse Darby announced as Raf opened his eyes.

Everyone let out sighs of relief as Raf opened his eyes.

"Bee?" He whispered weakly.

Miko smiled and gave Raf a gentle hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Where is..." Raf frowned. "Livia?"

Everyone suddenly perked up as if they had forgotten that Livia was hit with dark energon too. Ratchet concluded that the energon already in her body had dispelled it, but she would need more normal energon.

But she was missing.

"Livia?" He called out, looking around.

Scrap.

The groundbridge opened and Bulkhead stepped through before closing it.

"Where is Optimus?" Ratchet demanded.

"He's going to fight Megatron."

"And you let him go alone!?"

"Livia!" Miko called out, climbing up the ladder.

"Where is Livia?" Bulkhead asked.

"She disappe-"

A scream suddenly split the air, cutting off Miko. The bots all moved toward the sound, spotting Livia hiding in a corner, her knees pulling up to her chest.

"Livia! What's wrong?" Ratchet asked, kneeling down.

"Orion." She gasped looking up, her usually bright blue eyes glowing with a purple hue, earning a shocked look from Ratchet. "Megatronus."

Then Livia buried her head back into her knees, quivering.

"Get her, Arcee." Ratchet ordered before running over to the monitor and locating Optimus's signal. "What in the Allspar- We need to get Optimus out of there! Now!" Ratchet barked.

He opened a groundbridge and the others ran through after handing off Livia to Nurse Darby. Livia looked at the open groundbridge and a foreign feeling passed through her as the two names pounded through her head alongside the increasing beating of her heart.

Orion. Megatronus. Orion. Megatronus.

She crumpled to her knees, resulting in a gasp from Nurse Darby. Livia grabbed her head and groaned.

Livia's lungs shook with effort as heavy metal debris pushed down on her from above. Explosions and blasts were heard all around, but Livia could only focus on the ever growing pressure crushing her body.

Time seemed to stand still and Livia cried, her breathing becoming slower even as her panic grew.

She was not safe. She would never be safe.

Everything started to go out of focus and a small shout suddenly split the air. The familiar baritone voice laced with fear made Livia's struggle to breathe become more desperate.

His shout seemed distorted, covered with a blanket of fog and darkness. He yelled out again, the same word, his voice sounding closer. Livia wouldn't be able to hang on much longer.

But she hung on long enough to hear Megatron shout one last time.

"LIFESTAR!"

"LIFESTAR!" Livia screamed, suddenly lurching up, her eyes surveying the base.

Something red and blue stuck out to her sharply amongst the other bots. Optimus stumbled through the groundbridge, Ratchet and Arcee holding him up.

But Optimus froze the moment he heard her shout and the two made eye contact. The sounds of Nurse Darby calling to Livia suddenly became quiet and muffled. Ratchet's concerned voice faded away until it seemed as if Optimus and Livia were the only ones in the base.