Ratchet sat beside Eclipse's berth, his optics struggling to stay awake. He didn't even know what time it was or what day. He didn't care about any of that either. He just wanted to make sure that Eclipse was alright.

He was just about to drift off into recharge when he heard the scanners begin to screech. He fell backwards, his optics struggling to stay awake. "Great Primus what now?!"

He hauled himself to his servos and looked over to the screen. He realized that Eclipse wasn't breathing. "No! No!" He rushed to it and began to press buttons, trying to figure out why.

Azure jolted awake from where he slept beside Eclipse and he blinked his optics. "What's wrong," he asked as he suddenly realized that Eclipse was jerking but she wasn't breathing. "Ratchet!"

"I know," cried Ratchet before he turned and grasped some of his medical tools that Azure didn't know what he could do with them.

"What are those for," asked Azure before Ratchet pushed him aside gently.

"Energon has leaked into her respirator. I need to manually drain it before she chokes on it," gasped Ratchet as he used a a torch to cut into Eclipse's side. Eclipse thrashed around and Azure realized she was in pain. He stretched out a paw and held her paw gently, trying to calm her but it didn't seem to be working.

"Can I do anything," asked Azure as he danced around Ratchet but Ratchet pushed him away.

"Eclipse only has a few sparkbeats before this goes critical," muttered Ratchet and Azure knew that he needed his space. He leaped down from the berth and heard a sound from Cobalt's side of the warehouse.

He decided he would try to keep Cobalt away from his daughter, even though Cobalt probably couldn't drag himself that far. He bounded over though and saw that Cobalt was trying to stand but he fell harshly, coughing up more engeron.

"Cobalt," chided Azure as he pushed Cobalt back to his nest. "You need to rest."

"What's all the commotion over there," asked Cobalt as he looked up, trying to look over Azure's shoulder. "And who are you?"

"First I'm Azure and Ratchet is doing an experiment for an Er spacebridge," lied Azure with a shrug. Cobalt was overheating so much he probably couldn't think straight anyway.

Cobalt nodded a bit. "O-Okay," he stammered. "How's Eclipse."

Azure bit his tongue. "She's er good," he barked, wondering how many lies he would tell tonight. "Yeah she's just tired."

"This is all my fault," he cried before he lapsed in another hacking fit and Azure leaped back in disgust. He saw the look of complete embarrassment on Cobalt's face and he shook his head to clear it. "I killed my own daughter!"

"Don't say that," argued Azure harshly. "You had no idea that you even had a virus when you transmitted it to her."

"Who told you that," sputtered Cobalt in acute interest.

Azure gave his body a shake. "Ratchet," he replied as he lashed his tail. "You know he's going his best."

"Of course I do," rasped Cobalt as he closed his optics to reserve his strength. "It's just that he can only do so much and I know that." He sighed heavily which brought on another hacking fit. "I never thought it would be illness that took me offline."

"Hey don't talk like that," chided Azure in shock. "You're not offline yet."

Cobalt snorted. "I already one paw there. Only three left," he pointed out as he struggled to take in a breath. "In case you haven't seen I'm not in the best of shape."

Azure wanted to say something that his daughter wasn't either but Shocksurge had told him that tell Cobalt anything about his daughter was strictly off limits. "No you're not but you will get better."

Cobalt shook his head. "I don't care about me," he tried to explain to Azure. He had tried to explain it to everyone else but they didn't understand. He would now try Azure. "I'll go where I'm sent or endure this pain and I'll deal with it." He opened his optics and imagined Eclipse playing in front of him. "I just don't want anything to happen to my daughter."

"I'm sure all parents feel that way," sympathized Azure hopefully. He had never been a parent and didn't plan on being one but it sounded right. "You can't fight all their battles though."

"I always thought I could," confessed Cobalt as he curled his tail around his haunch as if Eclipse was laying with him. "I told myself I would always try to defend her and protect her, especially after my sparkmate went offline."

"No one's actually told me about that," confessed Azure as he summoned the courage to lay beside Cobalt. "I know you had a sparkmate and I know she's dead, that's about it."

"There isn't much else," whispered Cobalt as he imagined Moon standing in front of him, urging him to get up. She had always given him strength when he had none but she wasn't in front of him now, egging him on. Now he had to do that himself and he feared that he couldn't. "She was murdered."

"That's happening a lot now, because of the war," barked Azure. It was a terrible thing none the less. His parents had died in the war, or at least he believed so. After they died he lived on the streets in a group that he called, small sparks. They were all young ones who's parents died and they scavenged the streets for shelter and energon. He was the only one left of his group to be alive.

"Yes it is but this was different," explained Cobalt and Azure noticed it was painful for him to talk about. "This was kin killing kin."

"Kin," echoed Azure in shock as he sat upright to look at Cobalt. He couldn't imagine kin turning on kin. That was outrageous in his optics.

"Yes kin," coughed Cobalt as he turned his head. Boiling energon dripped from his lips and he wondered how much he actually had left in him. "My sparkmate's sister killed her while my brother just allowed it to happen."

Azure couldn't believe what he had just heard. "That's terrible," he gasped as he sat upright and lashed his tail. "That should never be allowed to happen."

"Yeah well I can't change it," confessed Cobalt darkly. "If I had my way there wouldn't be two sides fighting. We would be unified." He shook his head in despair. "However it's not my choice and that's the problem."

"Maybe one day it will be your choice," barked Azure as he wagged his tail. "I can see you being a great leader!"

"Cobalt Prime," snorted Cobalt in amusement before he coughed again, more energon leaving his body. "Leaders don't offline from a cough."

Azure shook his head reassuringly. "Well I still think you'd make a great prime Cobalt. Perhaps one day."

Cobalt smiled timidly. "My sparkmate would have made a good prime. Moon Prime. I like it," he breathed as he thought of her laying next to him but he realized he was hallucinating again.

Azure saw Cobalt's optics flicker a bit, yearning for recharge. Azure knew that Cobalt needed rest so he rose to his paws. "Well you need to get some rest and don't worry Optimus will be back soon with someone who can help you."

Cobalt suddenly lifted his head and Azure saw light blaze in his optics. "Azure you need to make sure that Eclipse gets the cure first. I can wait." He broke out into another hacking fit and this time he couldn't get back his breath. Azure began to freak out since he didn't know if you could lose that much eregon and mech fluid by just coughing. When he finally finished Cobalt knew that Azure desperately wanted to argue with him.

"I'll do my best but Ratchet may beg to differ," Azure confessed before he shuffled his paws. "Just get some rest."

Cobalt nodded and rested his head back on his paws, groaning in pain. Azure turned back and looked up to the roof, imaging is if it wasn't there. "Primus if you're real please help my friend and his daughter. He doesn't deserve what's happening to him. Please watch over him. "Watch over us."