A Page's Fate

Maze of Denial

Elliot POV

I wake up with a yawn and a stretch of my arms. I swear that sleeping on this bed was like sleeping on a cloud in heaven. I look around me and realize that it was a little dark outside. I hated when I woke up very early in the mornings, but sometimes when I wake up, it's hard to go back to sleep. Optimus wasn't moving, nor was his engine on, I was guessing he was still asleep- I mean, stasis.

I didn't want to wake him up so I slowly put on my shoes and tiptoed towards the side door of the passenger side. I open the door slowly and climb out as quietly as I could. As soon as I was out I gently tried to shut the door as if it were made out of glass.

"Morning Elliot."

I squeak and turn to see Arcee smirking down at me.

"Jesus, you scared me." I whispered, walking away from Optimus and towards Arcee that stood near the exit doors of the bunker.

Arcee giggled, "My apologies, I had just turned online not too long ago."

"Oh, this early?" I turned around and notice Ironhide, Sideswipe, Bumblebee and Ratchet in their vehicle modes, apparently all of them were still in stasis, "Are you always the first one up?" I asked.

Arcee shook her head, "No, Optimus is the one always up before all of us." She looked back towards Optimus.

"He must be exhausted." I said.

"Or maybe he just needed a type of... cuddle." Arcee giggled at the end.

Before I could ask what she meant, she picked me up and put me over her shoulder. She then walked away from the bunker.

"Are you hungry? I know the cafeteria is open 24/7." Arcee said, "Most of the soldiers get up early to get a sustenance called coffee."

"Coffee sounds good." I smiled.

I let Arcee take me to the cafeteria.

Optimus POV

Onlining myself, I scan my perimeter and do a systems check on myself. A habit of me doing, I guess a human would call it being 'paranoid'. After centuries of war, I will always check my surroundings and make a diagnostic check within myself to make sure nothing was messed with my form or if there was any danger nearby. However, I quickly noticed that Elliot was not in the cabin. I quickly transformed into my bipedal form within seconds. I stormed out of the bunker and com-linked all my Autobots to search for Elliot.

As I was about to walk past Ratchet's bunker, he suddenly came out and saw me.

"Had a good night rest?" He said.

"Forgive me, I must have over-stasis." I replied, "Has something happened?"

Ratchet scoffed, "Calm your engine pipes, nothing is going on. I'm just glad that you finally allowed yourself to rest long enough for your well-being."

I exhaled and looked away, "It is not good for me to over-stasis. I must be on alert."

Ratchet rolled his optics in annoyance, "For the love of Primus, how good are you leading if you never let yourself rest!"

Before I could reply, he grabbed my arm and yanked me inside his building, pushing me to sit down on one of his medical tables, "I am fine Ratchet." I tried reassuring him, which he only scoffed again.

"I'm doing check ups for everyone today, you're no exception Optimus." Ratchet responded, collecting the tools he needed to use.

I sat there in silence, still trying to contact the team if they have seen Elliot's whereabouts. Ratchet turned to me and chuckled lowly, catching my attention.