TFP Faded... (Chapter: XVI-Angel...)

"Optimus!"
Optimus heard his name being called...
"Optimus, can you hear me?!"
Optimus lifted his head off the earth, and looked groggily to see Rachet running to his aid, "Ra-chet?" The Prime looked at his right hands, and saw Lauren still there-dying. He felt her pain, he knew what was happening.
Rachet appeared over him, and began scanning, "Optimus, you've been exposed to--"
Before Rachet could finish, Optimus lifted Lauren up to him, "Rachet-save her!"
"By the allspark..." Rachet took the human into both hands, "What did she do?! This is dark energon!"
Optimus, with hope refilling him, managed to stand on two shaking legs, "She stopped a Z94 Star Screen by diving into the power source, and draining it from within... the power source was dark energon, Rachet."
"Dear Primus, she isn't breathing, can you transform?" asked Rachet.
"Let us hope, I will contact Wheeljack and request a landing," Optimus said, transforming.
Rachet transformed, and buckled Lauren in, "Ugh... I can feel the dark energon. We need to get her treatment now! But last time it was as simple as an energon infusion, but we don't have the resources for that!"
The Jackhammer landed, and as soon as both Optimus and Rachet were aboard, it lifted off again.
Rachet transformed, and quickly walked towards the medical room.
Raphael appeared, "Rachet, is she going to be okay?!"
Jack, Miko, June, and Agent Fowler followed, "What happened?!" June demmanded.
"Raph said Lauren was exposed to dark energon!"
Rachet turned around, "Get out of here, all of you, I need to focus!"
"What Rachet means," Optimus began, "Is that we will inform you when Lauren is better, for now, we need to see to her alone." He then shut  the door, and turned to Rachet.
Rachet had laid Lauren on the vast examination table, and had turned to pick up a rectangular, clear container.
"Rachet, what are you doing?" asked Optimus.
"If she bathed in dark energon, we have to place her in an energon bath, does she still have the matrix shard?" Rachet asked.
Optimus looked, "Yes, she is clenching it in her right hand."
"Good, that might be the only thing keeping her alive at this point," Rachet muttered, grabbing two containers.
"No... Unicron is keeping her alive..."
Rachet set the tools on the examination table, "What are you talking about?"
"Unicron spoke through her, he had control of her body..." Optimus whispered. Darkening static began to take his vision, and he fell back.
"Optimus!" Rachet propped him against the wall, then took aenergon cable, and hooked it to his power source, "Save your strength, Optimus. I will take care of Lauren."
"Rachet... she's holding on, quickly, take my energon, and use it to save her."
"Optimus, you are still losing energon, I'm not going to take your--"
"Do it, Rachet."
Rachet sighed, "One vile." He then took Optimus's energon, and filled the container, then took a vile of his own energon, and placed it in as well, before taking Lauren, and gently laid her in the container. "Please work... please." He glanced over to Optimus, who was stable, then took out a scanner, and held it over Lauren. "Come on-come on..." A few moments later, the substance began draining from her body, and just moments later Lauren sat up, and shouted.
"Agh-scrap!" She coughed up the fluid, and her entire body felt like it was being electrified, the pain was warm, and somewhat comforting.
"Lauren, excellent, I'm reading a full detoxification," Rachet informed, "Not a scrap of dark energon left in your system."
Lauren stood up in the liquid, "Rachet, why is it so dark? Ow-ow-ow! Can you please get me out of this stuff?"
Rachet removed her from the container, and scanned her again, this time, checking on her cranial activity, and it wasn't good, but he was soon to realize that would be the least of his worries.
"Seriously, what happened? It's so dark!" Lauren growled. "Can you turn the lights on?"
"One moment, I need to remove these decepticon gauntlets, brace yourself."
"Against wha-AOGH!" Lauren cried, as the preasure on her right arm released, and she once again felt air touch her skin, then the left one came off, "Scrap-that really hurt."
"Hm... these were made by Knockout, no doubt. What were they for, Lauren?"
"Can you please just turn the lights on?"
Rachet blinked, it was a bit dim, and so he brightened the lights, "Uh... Better?"
"No... are you kidding me? It's as dark as night," Lauren muttered, "Strange... I can feel the light on my skin but--" She slowly lifted her hands to her face, and felt for her eyes... "W-what--?"
"Something wrong?" Rachet asked.
Lauren whimpered, "My eyes... they're gone, Rachet..." She felt a hand pick her up, and a bright light fell on her face.
"Oh... Lauren, I-I don't know what happened." Rachet looked closer at the readings... "Everything to your optic nerve is just... gone-disolved."
"By dark energon?" Lauren gasped.
"Most likely. What were you thinking, Lauren?!" Rachet scolded, "What happened? Where you trying to kill yourself?!"
Lauren whimpered, "One, I was thinking I didn't want my planet to go dark and die! Two, yeah-I jumped into the dark energon so I could make the power source drain. And three, why would I try to kill myself-are you freaking kidding me?! Why are you yelling at me?!" she cried, "What was I supposed to do?!"
Rachet grimaced, "Right-sorry, I-I was not thinking, Lauren."
"I-I can't do this, Rachet!" Lauren gasped, tripping, and nearly falling.
Rachet caught her, "I understand..." The medic through quickly, thinking of the many number of things he could do, but there was only one course of action that seemed right. "Don't worry, Lauren, I have an idea."
She felt Rachet walking, and immediately dropped to her knees for better balance, "What? What idea? Where's Optimus?"
"He sustained heavy damage, he's unconscious, but recovering," Rachet informed, "Can I... talk to him?"
"Lauren, he's unconscious."
"I know, but-I-just... just let me talk to him."
Rachet sighed, never would he hope to understand human, least of all Lauren. He set her down.
Lauren sat in Optimus's hand, and thought a moment... trying to figure out what she could say, "O-Optimus... I-I don't really know what to feel right now. Sad, confused... scared? I mean, what the heck is wrong with me?"
As expected there was not response.
"I've lost my sight... and-and I don't know what's going to happen. It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me!" Lauren confessed, "I don't know-I just can't imagine living like this! What am I supposed to do?"
Rachet looked at her, and began executing his only option, and crafting Lauren's best hope.

It was an hour later, when Wheeljack opened the door, then closed it behind him, "Doc, what gives? I thought--"
"Shhh!" growled Rachet, "The scourge of my life is finally sleeping, do not scrap that blessing."
"Scourge of your life?" asked Wheeljack.
"Perhaps not a scourge, but a decent pain in the tailpipe..." grumbled Rachet, "All the trouble she gets into... gr..."
"Raph said she jumped into a pool of dark energon to save the planet from going dark, guts-I like her," chuckled Wheeljack.
"Why are you in here-disrupting my work?" asked Rachet, then pointed to a screen, "Could you at least make yourself useful, and search the human internet for a diagram of the human eye?"
Wheeljack walked over, looking back at Optimus, "Looks like Prime took a beating."
"Megatron saw to that, yes," mumbled Rachet.
"Got it... why do you need this?"
Rachet turned, and walked over to the screen, looking closer, "Hm... yes-very different indeed. Compensating for the size is going to be rather difficult, but nothing I can't handle."
"Doc... why are you looking at this-did something happen to Plummet?" Wheeljack asked.
Rachet nodded, "Her tenacity, and recklessness costed her her own eyes."
"You mean... you're trying to build her new ones?" asked Wheeljack.
Rachet grumbled again, "I'm not certain I will be successful, but it is worth an attempt. Unfortunately, this would be sacrificing... human appearance, I can't make them look biological... not yet anyway."
"Well, I have to admit, I couldn't bare the thought of being blind," Wheeljack admitted. "If you need any help, just let me know, doc."
"Thanks," Rachet muttered.

"Optimus! Optimus Prime!"
Optimus slowly opened his optics, "Wha--?"
Wheeljack shook his right shoulder, "Prime, look, I know you're still in pretty rough shape, but some human named Marx is wanting us to land, in a hanger..."
Optimus groaned, then went to get up.
"Whoa," Wheeljack stopped him, "Doc-man said you need to stay down for a little longer, Prime. What do you want me to do?"
"Marx is on our side, follow his instructions... it would seem that we need to yield to the authority of this country," Optimus explained, "Where is Lauren and Rachet?"
"Something about a procedure," Wheeljack muttered, "Rachet said you need to rest, I'll give you updates as they come in."
"Thank you, Wheeljack."

Rachet peaked out, and blinked, seeing men boarding the Jackhammer, "By the allspark, what is going on?" He peaked back at Lauren, who stirred, so he quickly shut the door, "Lauren, how are you, are they working?"
Lauren groaned, blinking. She felt something in her eye sockets, and touched them with her fingers-they were cold, metal, and she could feel the circuitry, "Rachet, did you make me optics?"
"I had been working on a way to replace damaged optics easier, so I simply downsized a quick-made set of prototypes, and implanted them." Rachet scanned her again, "The tricky part was coming up with a modified form of energon that would cooperate with your nervous system a bit better, and doing that in three hours... are they working."
Lauren blinked, "No-and wait-you gave me an energon infusion?"
"Modified, yes," Rachet sighed, "I'm sorry, it looks like I'm just... going to have to work on the theory of... giving you your sight back. For now, I really need to see what is going on out there-just-stay put."
"Wait-Rachet!" Lauren gasped, standing up, then fell forward, off the table she had been on, and onto the floor far bellow. "Ow-scrap it!"
When she recovered, Lauren felt her way to the large metal door, "Come on, open! Open!"
Surprisingly it opened up a second later.
"Hey! Who are you?!"
Lauren blinked, feeling a light shine in her face, "What in the-who is that?! I don't recognize your voice!"
"I'm Private Thomas Ashdown... member of the royal army," he said, "Are you with the autobots?"
"Yeah, I'm Lauren Courage... what is the army doing here?"
"We were ordered here. Marx is speaking with an-Optimus Prime?"
Lauren rubbed the back of her neck, "Jeez, what did I miss..."
"I'm sorry, but is something wrong with your eyes?" he asked.
Lauren sighed, "Suffice to say, my eyes disintegrated due to my own blinded will, and the Autobot medic, Rachet, tried to replace them... no pun intended regarding the blinded will thing."
She heard a small snicker, "I'm sorry, I was laughing at your comment, not you."
Lauren smiled, "Meh, I'd be fine with you laughing at me, my life is just one cruel irony after the other."
"Don't say that, can I help you?" Thomas asked.
"Uh-yeah, do you know where Optimus is?" Lauren asked.
"I can certainly help you find him, here take my arm."
Lauren wrapped her left arm around his right, "Thanks."
"What was your name?" he asked.
"Lauren."
"Hm... you look more like an angel. May I just call you Angel?" he asked.
Lauren chuckled, "Sure thing."

"Our leaders are willing to talk about a place to house you. We owe you a great deal for saving our people a number of casualties, that is, if you were looking for a place to set up a base," Marx offered. "Lauren shared with me your past... relations with America, and now that they have had the nerve to chase you out, we are more than willing to give you a home base."
Optimus, from his place on the ground, nodded, "Thank you, Marx. I'm afraid our experience here, in this world, differs very much from our home-reality."
"Understandable," Marx sighed, "Where is Lauren?"
Optimus looked down, and away, "She was injured greatly when she was taken by the leader of the decepticons. Rachet was treating her when I collapsed from my own wounds."
"I was afraid to mention how bad you looked," Marx commented, "Are you alright?"
Optimus nodded, "I will be."
The door opened, and Rachet appeared, "Optimus, what is with all the hum-ans..."
"Rachet, this is Marx, he was here to make certain we were not followed, and make us a generous offer... how is Lauren?" Optimus asked.
"S-stable... but she's lost her sight, Optimus." Rachet sighed, "I did what I could, but the dark energon had seemingly dissolved her eyes..."
Marx unfolded his arms, with a look of surprise, "I'm sorry?"
"Mister Marx, we are fuel by a substance known as energon... naturally it is devastating to humans. Then there is the substance known as dark energon, the polar opposite... and that is lethal upon prolonged contact. Lauren, to shut off a device that would have destroyed your world, chose to go into the power source and drain it-that power source was dark energon."
"And she is still alive?" Marx asked.
"By a tremendous miracle-yes, but her eyes were the cost of her own bravery..."
Optimus frowned, "Can there be victory without sacrifice?"
"Are you telling me that Lauren, a child, single-handedly save this planet's inhabitants?" Marx asked, in disbelief.
Rachet scoffed, "Maybe not single handedly, but it wouldn't be the first time. Didn't she tell you about her feat in Texas along with Optimus?"
"No... she said that the autobots saved the planet," Marx muttered.
Rachet rolled his eyes, "We need to work on that overly-modest aspect of her."
Optimus was in deep thought, wondering what would happen now that Lauren was... handicapped. In all truth, the only right thing to do, would be to send her home to her family-they could take good care of her, and she would be in far less danger. The Prime did not want to lose her though-if he were to remove himself from her life, Unicron might seize the opportunity to take her entirely, and he would not let that happen... never.