Archive of Our Own ^beta

"It happened. It was awful. You aren't perfect. That's all there is. Don't confuse your grief with guilt." -Veronica Roth

“I have to go through now.” Wheeljack could feel his entire frame buzzing. It was a strange mixture of the energy coming off the machine in the center of the garage and the euphoria of their plan actually working.

This was actually working.

“The machine is steady and seems to be working fine.” He let his gaze drift over each person in the room. Aubrey had one arm wrapped around Wes while Wes’ servo rested on top of Taylor’s helm. Peter had chosen to stick next to Aj’s side. Bear laid on top of her feet. He had pouted when Sunstreaker disappeared through the portal, and now the furry creature took comfort in Aj. “Hurry through though. It is programmed to turn off after being left inactive for five minutes.”

He stepped up to the portal, eager to experience this sort of travel for himself, and shot one last glance at the space around him. The garage had been his lab of sorts while he was here, but he couldn’t find it in himself to feel sad he was leaving it. Wheeljack was ready to be back in his own surroundings and couldn’t wait to give Aj, Peter, and the others a tour of how a proper lab should look. If Ratchet would even let him, that is. The medic once had his lab officially labeled as a 'priority one danger zone' on Cybertron, and he always lovingly referred to it as a 'wasteland of despair and disaster that only a two-bit processor of a mech would enter'.

Wheeljack retracted his mask so his friends could see his grin, “See you soon!”

The last thing he saw was Peter returning his smile and the twins waving at him before he stepped through the portal. Light blinded his optics and a flash of warmth washed over him briefly. Both occurrences were gone as quick as they came, and his next few steps were now on grass rather than concrete. Wheeljack quickly restarted his optics to try and regain his vision and was met with the watchful gaze of Autobots and Decepticons alike. The garage had been replaced with Oregon greenery. Tall trees surrounded the small clearing they were in with a thick fog beginning to roll in.

“Oh wow, it really did work!” He chirped and let his mask click back into place.

“I’m going to ignore the surprise in your tone.” Ratchet grumbled.

The medic stood closest to the glowing portal and was knelt on one knee. He couldn’t see it, but Wheeljack would bet all his energon reserves that the mech was prepared and had his scanners ready for the next portal travelers.

Wheeljack glanced back over the group to see not everyone was here. Near the back Optimus stood beside Megatron. At first glance it seemed casual, but he could now see the tenseness in both mech’s frames. Prime had one arm slightly raised in a position where he could bring his weapon forth in only a human second. Megatron on the other hand, though tense, only stared at the portal in anticipation.

Near them were the seeker trine and they took a similar stance with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker standing close enough to attack if needed. Thundercracker had his arms crossed over his chassis while Skywarp lazily leaned on him and Starscream glared at Megatron.

Soundwave, Barricade, and Grimlock were nowhere to be seen.

“We’re pretty sure Grimlock went to find the other dinobots.” Jazz answered the question that sat in Wheeljack’s processors. “And Soundy went to ‘is kids.”

“Barricade?”

“Left.” Jazz shrugged, “Only these mechs wanted to stick around an’ make sure our pals came through alright.”

Ratchet pinged him over the comms and it brought Wheeljack’s attention into focus. He turned back to the portal, “Right. Bear should be the next through. Any moment now.”

As if on cue, there was a bright flash of purple bringing Wheeljack’s attention back to the portal where Bear ran out. The puppy seemed disorientated, falling over his own pedes briefly, and had to pause to shake himself wildly. After that though, he barked and immediately made his way to where Sunstreaker stood.

“Bear’s scans are normal.” Ratchet announced.

Sunstreaker made a clicking noise of disapproval at Bear who chose to curl up next to his pede and lick the mech’s yellow armor. He clicked again at the dog, “Go to Bee. Go.”

Bear licked the frontliner one more time before bouncing over to Bumblebee who bent over and picked up the dog with a grin.

Wheeljack smiled behind his mask in relief. Bear being normal boded well for the others who had yet to come through. He quickly checked his internal chronometer to keep track of the time between each passage when he realized that time hadn’t changed. “Wait-”

“Did you see your chronometer?” Bluestreak guessed by what he assumed was the shocked look on his faceplates, “Yeah, it’s like no time passed and we never left! Optimus said he found out when he commed Ironhide to find out what was happening and Ironhide had no idea what Prime was going on about.”

Wheeljack hummed and tried to wrap his processors around this new information. It was a puzzling phenomenon. Time not having moved at all was evidence that they hadn’t just traveled through the barriers of the multiverse, but rather through time itself. Were the two correlated? Could one pick to travel through one or the other rather than both at the same time? Preceptor would be so excited to go over this new data with him.

It was endlessly unusual.

A flash of red and a scream of pain was all it took to make Wheeljack’s mood plummet.

Wes had come through, as planned, but he had collapsed to the grass with denta clenched in pain. His skin was pale and there was a sheen shine of sweat across his brow.

“It— God, it hurts!” Wes cried and a scream slipped through his lips, “I’m on fire.” Ratchet had scanned him quickly and transformed while simultaneously activating his holoform. Wes was clawing at his legs, “Ratchet! What is happening!? I can’t— God, I can’t— Argh!”

Ratchet shook his holoform’s head, “It’s your nerves. They’re malfunctioning from the level L1 and down. We have to get you to the hospital now. They can put you under and control the pain but—”

The medic’s words hung in the air. Sharp and panicked. Ratchet didn’t need to continue because everyone already knew. There was a collective fear that the group in the field shared.

“The kids— The kids come through next!” Wes barked, “You gotta— you gotta stop them.” He clenched his teeth again in pain and Wes’ optics fluttered as if he was going to pass out from the pain. “Wheeljack…”

Starscream spoke up, “You can’t make alterations on this side and there is no way to go through the portal again. It isn’t set for a location or time. Someone traveling through could end up anywhere.”

The scientist’s tone was bored, but there was a strain there he tried to hide. Optics shot to Wheeljack, but he couldn’t argue against Starscream’s words. The mech was right. Wheeljack had never felt this useless before as he stared at the swirling portal in dread.

“Stop fighting it, let your body pass out.” Ratchet snapped. Wes’ body was shaking in pain and exhaustion, but the male refused to let his optics close.

A flash of green and Wheeljack’s chassis ached.

The small twins stepped through while holding each other’s servos, but they remained standing. Wheeljack scanned them as thoroughly as he could and vented air in relief at the normal scans he got. There was a small abnormal value each twin had, but it didn’t seem to need immediate attention. Taylor and Tyler were grinning as their optics danced over each mech.

“Their scans are normal.” He announced quickly and passed them on to Ratchet.

“Oh, thank God.” Wes breathed in relief before blacking out. His head slumped back against Ratchet’s arms.

The comment had caught the twins’ attention and anxiety filled their optics when they stared at their father. Tyler looked confused while Taylor looked more fearful. The young femme had always been more sensitive. She was always quicker to notice when something was amiss.

“Is daddy ok?” Taylor asked quickly.

“He’s fine, youngling. How do you feel?” Ratchet lied to them. It was then that Wheeljack noticed the twins were starting to waver. He froze in fear at the sight of their shoulders relaxing and their optics fluttering. “Bluestreak, grab them.”

Bluestreak didn’t hesitate to scoop them up as they slipped into stasis. Before anyone could question or panic, the medic dismissed his holoform and transformed to his bipedal mode, “They’re fine. Their systems were stressed, and it pushed them into exhaustion, but they are healthy.”

Ratchet knelt down to keep one servo over Wes’ body. The human couldn’t be moved due to his injury, even Wheeljack knew that. The twins were fine though. The twins were fine. He didn’t understand this, by all means it made no sense, but Wheeljack couldn’t help but find comfort in the fact that they were safe. Was it random? Was it by age? The confusion made him uncomfortable and it wasn’t over yet.

A flash of pink, and a confused Peter stumbled into the field.

Everyone watched as the boy stared back at the portal. He seemed to pay the mechs around him no attention whatsoever. His optics bounced from his empty servo to the portal and back. He shook his helm, “Aj?”

“He’s healthy.” Ratchet announced after a scan. “Peter, you’re going to start feeling tired—”

“Aj? Where is—?” Peter turned around to face the mechs.

“What do you mean ‘where is Aj?’” Sideswipe snapped in panic.

Jazz stepped forward and knelt down, “Pete, what’s happenin’?”

“We were going to go through together.” He answered and walked toward the mech only to stumble over his own feet, his optics growing heavy, “We— we, we were holding hands.”

Prowl stepped around Jazz to catch Peter before the boy collapsed to the ground. Jazz was frozen in his spot, frame tense. Wheeljack had never fully understood the human expression of ‘having the air sucked out of their lungs’ since he didn’t require oxygen like they did, but right at this moment it became very clear what they meant. Hearing Peter’s words had felt like having one of the dinobots plowing into him.

Wheeljack found himself moving before he fully understood his action. He lunged toward the swirling portal. He had to get to Aj and Aubrey. Something was wrong and they were stuck, and it was his fault.

It was his fault.

“Wheeljack!” Ratchet called out.

He was only a step away when someone tackled him to the ground, hard. Wheeljack tore at the arms and tried to free himself. Jazz’s voice was right by his helm as he held on tighter, “You can’t go back through. I want to as well, Jack, but it won’t take you back to where we need.”

“It might! We don’t actually know that!” Wheeljack argued and fought harder. “Let me go!”

“I can’t do that, Jackie.” Jazz replied, pain evident in his own voice.

The portal flashed again, Wheeljack didn’t even have time to look over at the color, but he watched as Aubrey fell through and onto her knees. Tears were streaming from her optics and she looked absolutely devastated. Wheeljack stopped fighting in shock as a silence settled over the field.

“Where is she?” Sunstreaker was the one to finally break the spell, “Where the frag is she!?”

Aubrey’s optics landed on Wes, confusion washing over her small features, but Wheeljack could see a decision made in her blue optics. She snapped her attention over to him and ran over, “You have to fix the portal! You have to fix it! She can’t— Aj is stuck on the other side!”

More movement, a yellow and red blur. Wheeljack blinked in shock as he watched Optimus wrap his arms around a kicking and cursing Sideswipe, stopping him from nearing the portal. Sunstreaker was still moving though and Wheeljack knew Prime couldn’t stop both twins. His shock grew when he watched Megatron tackle Sunstreaker to the ground. The Decepticon pinned the ex-gladiator to the ground while Sunstreaker screamed expletives at him.

“Wheeljack, please!” Aubrey screamed. She didn’t seem to be tiring like the children had or in extreme pain like Wes had been.

Wheeljack fought against Jazz harder, the saboteur only doubling his efforts in keeping him down. His chronometer was counting down. The portal had been inactive for too long. It was going to disappear soon and that would leave him with very little options.

“Jazz you have to let me go! I have to go through!” Wheeljack cried in Cybertronian. Jazz was cursing himself in Cybertronian, hating his actions, but refusing to let the engineer go. Wheeljack had never felt desperation like this before. His servo reached out and clawed at the Earth in a pathetic attempt to get closer but to no avail.

Aubrey had fallen to the ground, not due to exhaustion but due to desolation. The small human sobbed loudly; her arms wrapped around her frame. The beeping of his chronometer only grew quicker, a final warning, and then he watched as the portal faded away. No one in the field spoke. Even the twins had stopped cursing to stare at the space where the portal used to be. In fact, the only sound that could be heard was Aubrey’s wailing cries.

Jazz’s arms went slack, he rolled over to bury his faceplate into the earth. His servo punched the ground once, hard, and he didn’t move again. Wheeljack slowly stood up and his hand drifted to his spark. There was an ache there at his failure. Aj’s bond was still there, but it was hollow. She was too far away to make an impact.

Optimus spoke up, but Wheeljack didn’t hear a word. He had left her. He had left his friend behind. Aj had been all alone when she first met them. She had let them into her life- her heart. She had trusted them, trusted him, and what had that cost her? She was now alone in an empty garage. Wheeljack owed Aj his life and this is how he repaid her. His wrecker brethren would be ashamed of him. Pit, he was ashamed of himself.

Wheeljack had left Aj behind.