Filial Piety

Look I wasn't expecting to be posting this either, okay?

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Duke's words were as quiet as could be, as if he were afraid of what he was going to say next. "Do you think I'm an idiot, Ratchet?"

Ratchet looked over at Duke for a brief moment before turning his chair back to continue examining Regina's vitals.

"I think you're both idiots." He said, voice flat. "I think she's an idiot for doing something she knows could kill her," Ratchet briefly made eye contact with his fellow doctor through his reflection on the monitor "and I think you're an idiot for not trying hard enough to stop her."

The hardest part to accept was that Duke couldn't argue against Ratchet. He could have done more to dissuade Regina from choosing herself as a guinea pig for an experiment they all knew was dangerous. Yet all he did was give a half assed attempt, claiming that she would have done it either way when pressed about his decision later by the others.

And this is where it got him. Where it got her.

Regina's body was cold on a medical bed. The Transtector she used to pilot was hooked up to life support, the remaining pieces of her shattered psyche trying to reform inside of its new body.

Inside of its new home.

All because Duke allowed himself a moment of selfishness. A moment of weakness. A moment of fear that one day, a day too soon, he would lose the one who taught him what it means to care for another over yourself with every fiber in your being.

The fear that one day he would lose who taught him what a family really was.

Duke looked away from Ratchet's judgmental gaze. "Perhaps you're right."

There was probably a lot Ratchet wanted to say back, but the silence spoke louder than any words could. Instead Ratchet focused his attention on keeping Regina alive. Something Duke had forgotten.

He truly was the better man in all of this.

"She'll be fine."

Duke looked back over to Ratchet. His back was still turned to him, and he was still working diligently as a good doctor would.

"She'll need some time to recover, as well as both physical and psychological therapy but," Ratchet turned around and looked Duke in the eyes, nothing but sincerity lacing his voice "she'll be fine."

Duke could feel tears pricking his eyes, an overwhelming feeling of happiness and relief running through his veins. "Thank you."

Ratchet sent him a small smile and a nod back before standing up, going on about needing to set up an appointment with Rung once Regina felt up to the task, but it all went in one ear and out the other.

All that mattered at the moment was that his little girl was going to be okay.

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Would you believe me if I told you this whole thing started because I was watching J-Decker at the same time as Transformers Victory, and decided that Jan and Yuuta should be friends? Then I woke up one day and decided Regina has to Suffer™

This whole AU is incredibly weird, and I have to do some really bonk ass shit to make it work. I honestly don't think I'll ever do anything with this AU again, so here's some Random Facts about it, starting off with what's relevant to this fic and working our way down to nonrelevance:

- Both of Regina's parents are in prison, her mother for terrorism (she was a secret operative for COBRA working in the UK) and her father for willingly harboring a fugitive. She lived with her estranged uncle before meeting Duke

- Within the AU, Regina became the first and only human binary bonded to a standard Transtector used by Cybertonain Headmasters. The experiment would later prove to be detrimental to Regina, as the physical and mental strain caused by the link would divide her psyche, making it impossible for Regina to live without her Transtector

- Her Transtector's appearance is primarily based on Minerva (who is a regular Cybertronian in this AU) with elements inspired by Duke such as his little wing-esque finals, and is in the red and black color scheme of her primary outfit in the J-Decker anime

- As shown here, Duke and Regina have a Father-Daughter bond, and will refer to each other as such when speaking to others. At later points, Regina will refer to Duke as "Father"

- Probably in contradiction to what is seen here, Ratchet and Duke really don't know each other all that well. They knew of one another prior to being "stationed" on Earth, but they didn't really interact with one another in any meaningful way

Heading off to the Non Fic Related Facts now:

- Gunmax and Fortress Maximus are brothers. Both are traditional Cybertronian Headmasters

- Gunmax was forged under the name Ignifera Maximus

- The two originally had a very close bond, but after an incident that caused Gunmax to lose his memories, the two became estranged due to Fort Max wanting his (and I quote) "cute little brother back" while Gunmax wants Fort Max to stop living in the past, and see what lies ahead in the future

- And yes, losing his memory is the reason Gunmax no longer refers to himself as Ignifera Maximus

- Speaking of siblings, Ratchet and Minerva are also siblings. (I have a lot of feelings about Minerva, okay?)

- Sixshot/Greatshot, Kagerou and Shadowmaru are all siblings as well. Kagerou and Shadowmaru are twins

- Jan and Yuuta are close friends, and their relationship parallels Star Saber and Deckard's, who are also close friends

- Star Saber is the reason Deckard has emotional dependency issues. Have fun guessing why

- Honestly I think Jan and Yuuta/Star Saber and Deckard's dynamic needs it's own space, so I'll stop here for now