"Do you remember going through the bridge?" she asks finally, not moving from where Nova Storm is clinging to her. She knows it can happen at random; she knows it happened even to Megatron, who she had always, even after his betrayal, considered powerful enough to control everything that happens to him. Some part of her had feared that the other Megatron had got Nova Storm again, and this is what brought her back. A flood of sick, angry fear that the worst had happened again.
It's not great, knowing that she might've even gone back to her own death or whatever the hell is happening back home either way. Skywarp had felt so obscenely sick with guilt for it, and still does. It's hard to feel anything else but.
When Nova opens her side of the bond again, she'll find that Skywarp's was open the whole time. So why does it still feel like that?
"The... the first time?" Nova Storm asks into Skywarp's abdomen, feeling that lurch in her chest as always when she thinks about it, or maybe it's because the bond... it's open on both sides, she can tell, she always can at close range, so why... "When he-"
She shakes her head into Skywarp. "No. A- a few things lingered a tiny bit, but I don't. Nothing. Nothing before him standing over me and you came and got me. It's just... nothing."
That twisty feeling twisted further. "Or do you mean when it brought me back and everything went as wrong as it can? Yeah," she rasped, desperately reaching through their bond for Skywarp but it felt empty, a vast empty nothing, and she shuddered again, tightening her grip.
"Warp..." She whispered into her, not looking up to her face, "you- the bond... It still feels- it feels like you aren't here. I thought you were dead when you were gone, and-" Her vents were speeding up again, mouth trembling as words spilled out, "and now you're back but I can't feel you, I can't-"
She frowns above Nova... but this gives an opportunity for her.
"You disappeared again a month or so ago for a few days." How could she know that without being on the ship? This is not the first time she tried to come running back to Nova, and there's a reason she ran further after it. "It's probably just the bridge doing some weird scrap. It'll just feel muted until everything goes back to normal."
Skywarp makes a face, painted lips turning down. Perhaps she's still being a bit cold, but Nova doesn't need to know that just not being there isn't how it feels when she died. It felt like she had never been.
"I'm not dead and I didn't die, so you can stop worrying about all that, okay?"
Nova Storm cycled her optics uncertainly, rapidly thinking, scrambling, through any gaps or flaws in her memory and how that meant Warp had to have been on the ship or in communication with someone. Did she come back, and thought herself that Nova was...
She opened her mouth to say something, but in truth she was still far too slagging relieved that Warp was here to want to tear apart what she was being told when there was no evidence of it being incorrect. It would just feel weird for a little while.
It would be okay soon.
Nova nodded. "Okay. Okay," she said, nodding more emphatically. "And- and I'm sorry I didn't- that I drove you off being stubborn. I don't want to do that again. Not to you, and not to us. So- so I've been trying. I have. So you don't have to worry either, okay?"
"It's not just you," she says, regret not clear in her voice. "It's okay, Nova, I know you've been trying, even before I left. I shouldn't have done that to you."
It's her job to protect her sister, but she doesn't say that aloud. It is the simple truth she's lived by for a very long time, but knows only reaffirming it would make Nova pull back further into herself.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-23 07:16 pm (UTC)It's not great, knowing that she might've even gone back to her own death or whatever the hell is happening back home either way. Skywarp had felt so obscenely sick with guilt for it, and still does. It's hard to feel anything else but.
When Nova opens her side of the bond again, she'll find that Skywarp's was open the whole time. So why does it still feel like that?
no subject
Date: 2025-09-23 09:25 pm (UTC)She shakes her head into Skywarp. "No. A- a few things lingered a tiny bit, but I don't. Nothing. Nothing before him standing over me and you came and got me. It's just... nothing."
That twisty feeling twisted further. "Or do you mean when it brought me back and everything went as wrong as it can? Yeah," she rasped, desperately reaching through their bond for Skywarp but it felt empty, a vast empty nothing, and she shuddered again, tightening her grip.
"Warp..." She whispered into her, not looking up to her face, "you- the bond... It still feels- it feels like you aren't here. I thought you were dead when you were gone, and-" Her vents were speeding up again, mouth trembling as words spilled out, "and now you're back but I can't feel you, I can't-"
no subject
Date: 2025-09-23 09:47 pm (UTC)She frowns above Nova... but this gives an opportunity for her.
"You disappeared again a month or so ago for a few days." How could she know that without being on the ship? This is not the first time she tried to come running back to Nova, and there's a reason she ran further after it. "It's probably just the bridge doing some weird scrap. It'll just feel muted until everything goes back to normal."
Skywarp makes a face, painted lips turning down. Perhaps she's still being a bit cold, but Nova doesn't need to know that just not being there isn't how it feels when she died. It felt like she had never been.
"I'm not dead and I didn't die, so you can stop worrying about all that, okay?"
no subject
Date: 2025-09-23 09:58 pm (UTC)She opened her mouth to say something, but in truth she was still far too slagging relieved that Warp was here to want to tear apart what she was being told when there was no evidence of it being incorrect. It would just feel weird for a little while.
It would be okay soon.
Nova nodded. "Okay. Okay," she said, nodding more emphatically. "And- and I'm sorry I didn't- that I drove you off being stubborn. I don't want to do that again. Not to you, and not to us. So- so I've been trying. I have. So you don't have to worry either, okay?"
no subject
Date: 2025-09-24 10:23 pm (UTC)It's her job to protect her sister, but she doesn't say that aloud. It is the simple truth she's lived by for a very long time, but knows only reaffirming it would make Nova pull back further into herself.
"I won't do it again, okay? Not by choice."