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Leaning back against the side of the Lost Light, Drift grinned as he watched Megatron attempt the futile task of corralling the excited crew congregating on the gangway. This shore leave was their first proper chance to get off the ship in weeks.
“Everyone! Please-” Megatron shouted, his rough voice drowned out by constant chatter and bursts of laughter.
“FWEEE!” A brain-scrambling shriek pierced the cold air. Rodimus appeared at Megatron’s side in a flash of fiery brilliance, fingers still in his mouth from whistling. Drift shook his head to recalibrate his audials as silence finally descended. “ALRIGHT! Everyone, listen up!” Rodimus shouted to his attentive audience. “Your second favorite co-captain had a few announcements before we all head out to do a bit of exploring! Take it away, Megs!”
Rodimus swung his arms towards Megatron like he was introducing a prize on a game show. Megatron sighed and rolled his optics, but his fond smile betrayed his artfully cultivated air of exasperation.
“Thank you, Rodimus. As I was saying- We want everyone to enjoy themselves... within reason.” He paused to glare at the Scavengers who were already organizing a massive snowball fight with team captains Spinister and Red Alert loudly arguing over who gets to choose Fort Max. “Although no known life signs appear on our scanners, we are in uncharted territory, so please exercise caution. The ambient temperature is just above freezing and the weather forecast is clear. Minimus and I will remain on the ship, so don’t hesitate to call if you run into trouble.”
“Right.” Minimus stepped forward with a datapad in hand, blushing slightly when Megatron laid a large hand on his diminutive shoulder. “Before you all take off, I have a few rules to go over.”
Drift rolled his shoulders and settled in for the long haul. Lulled by the dulcet drone of Minimus’ safety regulations, his mind wandered towards a recharge-like state. When someone grabbed his arm, he practically jumped out of his armor.
“Scared you!” Rodimus snickered as he tugged him along.
“No way! I was meditating.” Drift lied, allowing Rodimus to lead him down the gangway and out into the frigid wilderness. He’d never hear the end of it if he admitted that Rodimus successfully snuck up on him.
“On what?” Rodimus laughed and the sound set Drift’s spark spinning faster. “The finer points of health and safety? Come on! Let’s get outta here!”
“What about-?”
“We’ve heard it a thousand times.” Rodimus waved off his concern at missing the briefing. “Only Mags can make saying ’Have fun. Be safe. Don’t die.’ take a thousand hours. With him and Megs staying behind, everyone else will be fine, as long as the snowball fight doesn’t get too out of hand. I’ve got something special planned for us!”
“You? Made a plan?” Drift dodged Rodimus’ playful swat when his HUD pinged an incoming message. Navigational data. It looked like a map. No! A race course! His engine revved and he met Rodimus’ sparkling blue optics.
“Betcha I can beat you to the finish line!” Rodimus flashed his most dangerous grin, half challenge, half invitation, all swagger. He flicked his spoiler, a flash of dazzling gold against the starlit snow.
“Pfft!” Drift met his challenge with a bit of over-confidence of his own. A cursory glance at the data that Rodimus sent him revealed that the entire course played to Drift’s strengths: narrow winding roads dependent on agility more than raw speed. “Please. The only way you could possibly beat me is if-”
“3-2-1-GO!” Rodimus leapt away in a burst of red and gold flame. He spun his transformation cog and hit the ground in a blur of roaring engines and squealing tires, taking off in a spray of snow. “WOO! See you at the finish, slowpoke!”
“-you get ahead early.” Drift groaned. He transformed and gave chance, kicking himself for not catching on to Rodimus’ tactics earlier. Of course he'd give himself an advantage. “HEY! That’s cheating!”
“Whatever! All’s fair in love and racing!”
“We’ll see if you still feel that way when I win!” Drift gunned his engine and easily closed the gap. Unfortunately, the narrow mountain trail didn’t provide many opportunities for passing. Rodimus just laughed and slid around the next turn. Between that melodious sound and the exhilarating rush of speed, Drift felt like he was flying.
Hugging the corner just a little closer, Drift maintained his position right behind the fiery red speedster. Whereas Rodimus simply threw himself into each race with reckless abandon and wild enthusiasm, Drift took a more meticulous approach. Every millisecond shaved through a tighter line or strategic gear-shifting added up by the end. His lifelong habit of exploiting every possible advantage served him too well to set it aside now.
He quickly ran through the entire file, searching for an area wide enough to pass. After the next set of switchbacks, there was a gap in the solid line marking out the course. Drift didn’t have to wonder what that meant for long. When they power slid around the last hairpin turn, his energon ran cold. A deep ravine bisected the course.
“Rodimus!” Drift yelled. “What the hell?!”
“We can jump that! Easy!” Rodimus revved his engine and drove right off the cliff before Drift could protest any further. Never one for calculations, Rodimus didn’t even notice his trajectory was off until it was too late. “Scrap!”
The distinct song of Rodimus’ transformation cog echoed through the ravine as he shifted into bot mode in the desperate hope that he could catch hold of the far-side cliff. Without hesitation, Drift raced towards the ravine at full throttle. He turned slightly to the right where a small chunk of ice served as a ramp to provide the extra lift necessary to clear the jump. Landing with plenty of room to spare, he transformed as he whirled around to the edge of the precipice.
Drift’s mind raced so fast that the rest of the world seemed to slow down. Despite the cold, the shrill whine of Drift’s overheating vent fans echoed in his audials. Dropping to his knees, Drift leaned over the cliff and relief washed over him. Rodimus caught a rocky outcropping jutting out from the ice wall.
“A little help?” he asked, looking up at Drift with a sheepish grin.
Shaking his head, Drift reached down and grabbed Rodimus’ wrists with trembling hands. “I’ll pull on three. Ready?” Rodimus nodded.
At the count of three, Drift threw all of his weight backwards to leverage Rodimus up to safety. Not taking any chances, he even engaged his turbo chargers. Rodimus flew up with such force that he slammed into Drift. They tumbled backwards together and landed in a tangled heap.
“Fancy meeting you this way!” Rodimus purred, comfortably sprawled across Drift’s chest.
Drift relished the familiar warmth of his weight for a few seconds before a quick twist of his hips reversed their positions. Rodimus yelped as Drift flipped him over and pinned him in the snow.
“You could have died.” Drift narrowed his optics. He pressed his palm over Rodimus’ spark, the steady hum of its spin soothing his frayed circuits. Rodimus smirked at him like he found this new position perfectly enjoyable. Damn him anyways.
“But I didn’t.” Rodimus grinned as he traced a golden finger along Drift’s crimson accents. “Because you’re here.”
“You know,” Drift sighed, “You don’t have to pull goofy stunts like that to impress me.”
“Aww.” A jolt of hurt flashed through Rodimus optics. He flinched like Drift had just slapped him and withdrew his hand. “Is that what you think?”
Drift instantly rolled off Rodimus and sat back on his heels. Did he misread the situation? He had gotten a lot better, but many emotional and social queues remained a mystery to him. Drift canted his finials back and stared blankly at the snow.
“Sorry.”
“No. I’m sorry.” Rodimus’ cheeks glowed with a soft blush as he kipped up then pulled Drift to his feet. “I’m trying to find a way to say what I want without sounding like a totally selfish gearstick. You know I’m bad at words.” His spoiler bounced and he squeezed Drift’s hands. “I know! Read my aura! Then you’ll see exactly how I feel!”
“Are you sure?” Drift blinked. He wondered if Rodimus truly realized the intimacy of the request that he just made. “You can’t hide anything. Being so open makes a lot of people extremely uncomfortable.”
“Good thing I’m not a people! I’m always comfortable with you.” Rodimus winked and Drift melted. He did understand. “Come on! Do it!”
“Okay.” Drift closed his optics, focusing on the sense of warm security from Rodimus’ grip. He relaxed and felt the energy of everything around him: The solidity of the granite, the impermanence of the ice, the incalculable age of the stars, and the radiant brightness burning before him.
Drift opened his optics and gasped. Rodimus’ aura blazed around him like a wreath of fire. Vibrant orange shone as the primary color, signifying optimism, recklessness, or perhaps in Rodimus’ case, reckless optimism. That makes perfect sense. He wildly throws himself at life and doggedly hopes things work out for the best. That beautiful hue was shot through with flickering patches of pale yellow. Drift’s spark clenched in his chest. Self-doubt and fear of loss. The yellow ebbed and flowed throughout his entire aura, almost as integral to his being as the orange. Strangely, thin pink ribbons surrounded each band of yellow. Drift blushed. Pinks indicate love with the brighter hues illustrating deeper feelings.
“Got a good look?” Rodimus chewed his bottom lip. Drift nodded, not confident in his own ability to form words at the moment. “Okay. Here goes: I do stupid scrap like that when I’m with you because I know you always have my back. Like, if I take a chance and fall, you’ll catch me. Sometimes literally.”
Still mesmerized by the beauty of Rodimus’ aura, Drift contemplated his words in comparison to his few other significant relationships. Gasket liked him. Megatron respected him. Wing believed in him. As the realization dawned on him, Drift whispered, “You- you trust me?”
“YES!” Rodimus shouted, sparks dancing along his spoiler. “That’s the word! I TRUST you! More than anything!” While Rodimus spoke those words, the luminescent pink ribbons flared so brightly they nearly overwhelmed the yellow. He pulled Drift into a big hug and spun him around. “I knew you’d be able to see what I meant!”
“Something like that,” Drift melted into Rodimus’ embrace and held him tightly. Seeing the colors in Rodimus’ aura shift in response to their relationship set Drift’s spark to spinning. He wondered what his own aura looked like in this moment.
Rodimus nuzzled Drift’s neck and whispered, “Betcha you didn’t see this coming though.” He bounced up and transformed into his sleek race car alt mode. “I’m still gonna win! WOOOOO!!!”
The cold wind rushed around Drift snapping him back to reality. Rodimus’ blazing orange and pink aura faded from his vision as he sped away.
“Oh no you don’t!” Drift flashed a fanged grin as he gave chase in bot mode. A few bounding strides got him close enough to reach out and catch Rodimus by the spoiler.
“HEY!!”
“All’s fair in love and racing!” Drift used his momentum to flip himself up into a high-speed handstand on his spoiler. A quick twisting motion sent him into a corkscrew flip right over Rodimus. Drift took the extra second of hang time to blow Rodimus a kiss before he transformed and landed directly in front of him. He hit the ground wheels spinning and took off in first place. Checking his rearview mirror, Drift laughed to find the red speedster glowing a shade of bright pink that had nothing to do with his aura.
“WHAT- THE- HELL?” Rodimus sputtered, struggling to keep up as they slid around the final switchbacks to the summit. “That move was so righteous!!”
"I’ve got moves for days!” Drift teased, hugging the corner a little tighter and widening his lead. “Did you like that one?”
“Hell yeah I did! That was the most radical thing I’ve seen in all day and I check myself out in the mirror every morning.”
“You are ridiculous!” Drift downshifted and mashed his throttle to climb up the last steep incline.
“Takes one to know one!” Rodimus giggled. He fell a little farther behind, losing power as he pushed to maintain his speed in a higher gear.
Drift cleared the summit ridge first, arriving at the designated checkered flag point on the map a full second before Rodimus. He transformed, casually shifted all his weight to one leg and feigned a yawn as Rodimus screeched to a halt beside him. “Look who finally decided to show up! How’s second place feel?”
“Pretty good actually.” Rodimus transformed in a flash of fire and stretched his long limbs. “Especially when the view is so nice.”
“You’re officially too much!” Heat rushed to Drift’s face plates and he pounced on Rodimus.
“You oughta know! You’re the only one in this universe that can handle me.” Rodimus laughed as they wrestled, tumbling around on the frozen summit. He struggled in vain to extricate himself from Drift’s headlock. Finally, he gave Drift’s side a double tap to signal his surrender. Drift let him go and brushed some imaginary dust from his shoulder.
“Alright, Speed Racer, I won-”
“Pfft! Barely!”
“Whatever! Still counts! What’s the prize?”
“Something super-omega special.” Rodimus smiled, dropping his usual façade of charismatic bravado. Drift stared. Lowering his walls somehow made him shine even brighter, just like his hidden aura. “As soon I learned that it would happen here, I knew that I had to share it with you.”
Rodimus took Drift’s shoulders and spun him around. He waved an arm out across the starry night sky. “Just wait for it.”
Drift furrowed his brow, scanning the vista for... Something? Clouds rolled in while they were racing up the mountain, gathering in the valley below them. The crimson fuel rods of the Lost Light jutted up through the soft indigo canopy, gleaming fiercely against the gathering darkness. Light from countless unfamiliar stars glittered off the ice and snow on nearby mountain peaks. All stunningly gorgeous, but not out of the ordinary.
“Rodimus? What am I-?”
“Shhh!” Rodimus shooshed him. “Any second now!”
Drift shrugged and returned his gaze to the horizon where Rodimus pointed. Strange lights began to flicker softly in the sky above them. Drift blinked. Gradually the lights burned brighter, bolder, undulating a thousand shades of blue. Rodimus' fingers entwined with his, but Drift couldn’t take his optics off the lights. It was like reading the aura of Primus. Not Rung-Primus of the Guiding Hand, but the original. The Creator of All. Primus. Sparkling sapphires to cyans. Generosity and serenity. Tears welled up in his optics.
He strained his audials to listen for any sounds accompanying the dancing lights, now sweeping across the entire horizon in twisting azure ribbons, but heard nothing. Only the pinging of his rapidly cooling armor resounded in the silence.
“What is this?” Drift whispered quietly, afraid that speaking would interrupt the celestial display.
“It’s called Aurora Borealis.” Rodimus answered, his own voice filled with awe. “If you want the science, you’ll have to talk to Perceptor. I only know the mystical part. When I first seen them on earth, the humans I was with told me that the lights are made from the energy of all those that died before us. Watching over us. I stayed up all night watching the lights until they faded into the dawn.”
Suddenly aware of the weight of the Great Sword pressing against his back, the tears rolled freely down Drift’s face. Watching soothing blues the color of pure spark-light dance through the sky, Drift choked back a sob. The ethereal beauty smote his spark.
A warm hand gripped the back his neck, gently massaging his taut cables. He leaned into the touch without taking his optics from the sky.
“I never got to meet him,” Rodimus whispered, “But I know Wing would be so proud of you.”
“You think so?” Drift winced at the uncertainty wavering in his own voice.
“I know so.” Rodimus answered with uncharacteristic quiet confidence. No bluster. All sincerity. “Wing saw that you are a good person. He just wanted you to see it too. And you are. So good that you make me better.”
“Thank you.” Drift smiled through his tears and turned towards Rodimus. He glowed like a lost ember against the flickering blues. Tears stained his own cheeks. A jolt of pain shot through Drift’s spark. He knew what Rodimus searched for in the celestial spark-light. Why he stayed up all night watching them before. Reaching out to cup Rodimus’ face with his hands, Drift brushed away his tears with his thumbs.
“Nyon is at peace.”
“How-?”
“I can see it, like when I read your aura.” Drift pointed to the different shades of blue, calling out their meanings. “Tranquility. Peace. Understanding.”
“Wow.” Rodimus straightened up like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Til all are one, huh? That’s amazing. YOU are amazing.”
Drift stood a little straighter too. Rodimus simply believed him, no questions or disparaging comments. He TRUSTED him. Completely. Like no one ever has. Despite his happiness, a shiver ran down his struts. He was so absorbed in the mystical experience that he hadn’t noticed the frost building on his armor.
“This would be the perfect night if it wasn’t fragging freezing.” He muttered through chattering teeth.
“Why didn’t you say so!” Rodimus enthusiastically wrapped his arms around Drift’s waist from behind then hesitated. “Is this okay?”
“Is it going to make me warm? Then hell yes!”
“The whole bursting into flames thing kinda freaks people out.”
Drift didn’t need to see Rodimus’ aura to know the pale yellow flared. He felt Rodimus’ wavering confidence in his flame ability, his palpable fear that Drift might pull away. Drift’s spark clenched.
“Good thing I’m not a people!” Drift threw Rodimus’ ridiculous phrase back at him, coaxing a tentative smile from the speedster. Drift snuggled back against his chest and pulled Rodimus’ arms around himself like a blanket. “I trust you.”
Sighing with relief, Rodimus laid his chin on Drift’s shoulder and stoked just enough of his fire to heat his armor to the perfect toastiness. He pulled Drift tight, still mesmerized by the lights. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Drift nuzzled his helm, reveling in his luxurious warmth. He turned his gaze from the celestial display to Rodimus. Light played in his blue optics. Tiny flames shimmered along his spoiler, vibrant orange tipped with pink. Drift smiled. “It sure is.”