Something cold touched Taylor's nose.

She rubbed her nose with her finger and curled back up against Ratchet's side with a soft sigh, but then she felt it again. Once more, she rubbed her nose and opened her eyes to squint at what was left behind on her finger. Was that... water?

Now mostly awake, she slowly sat up and tilted her head back to look up at the top of the trunk. Tiny white snowflakes fluttered through the air as they made their way towards the ground. They landed in her hair and stuck to her clothing. A smile slowly crept across her face before she got up and shuffled over to the entrance of their shelter.

What she saw took her breath away.

The forest was blanketed in a layer of snow as far as she could see. It sparkled in the early morning sunlight like a sea of diamonds, appearing almost too perfect to be real. Every sound aside from the birds chirping in the trees above seemed to be muffled by the snow, which created a sense of calm.

Taylor finally turned her gaze away from the beauty to look at Ratchet. He was sleeping peacefully, his snout tucked under one of his legs, so she decided not to wake him. She would explore the newly transformed forest by herself for now—at least until he woke up.

Some time later, Ratchet awoke from slumber and parted his jaws in a leisurely yawn. He curled his tail closer to his body, expecting to feel Taylor's form curled up against his side and being surprised when he felt nothing. His heart jolted in his chest as his head shot up, eyes frantically scanning the den for her.

"Taylor?" He called softly, worry beginning to set in.

Where could she have gone? Did something take her? He couldn't pick up any scents that he didn't recognize...

Eventually, his worried gaze wandered to the den entrance. That's when he noticed the footprints in the snow that led away from the den.

Scrap. She shouldn't be out there alone, especially in this weather! He thought to himself as he quickly stood up and shook out his stiff joints.

Ratchet crawled halfway out of the den and looked around. His worry only continued to grow when he saw no sign of Taylor. He needed to see where her footprints led before they were covered with fresh snow.

He'd scarcely taken a few steps when something cold stung his hindquarter. He let out a soft yelp and jumped a bit, his head whipping around to look for the source. His posture stiffened, then relaxed when he heard Taylor giggling from behind a rock.

"Very funny." Ratchet huffed, shaking off the last remnants of the snowball from his hindquarter. "You scared me to death, disappearing like that!"

"Sorry! I wanted to see the snow and you were asleep." Taylor apologized, still giggling as she stepped out from behind the rock. "You should've seen your face when I hit you with that snowball!"

Ratchet rolled his eyes a little. "Yes, I'm sure it was quite amu—ack!"

Another snowball stung Ratchet, this time nailing the side of his face. Taylor couldn't help but burst out laughing even though she hadn't been the one to throw it. Ratchet whipped around to glare at Cliffjumper, who was standing behind a tree.

"Sorry, doc! I couldn't... I couldn't help it!" Cliffjumper exclaimed, his sides heaving from laughing so hard.

"Snowball fiiiight!" Taylor shouted. She was already mashing another snowball between her hands.

"No!" Ratchet quickly ducked down and dove behind a fallen log before he could get hit with another snowball.

Meanwhile, Taylor and Cliffjumper were exchanging fire with snowballs, trying to see who could hit the other first. Seeing that they were distracted, Ratchet had a change of heart and decided it was alright if he had a little fun. When would they ever get the chance to do this again?

The medic snuck up behind Taylor and swept his tail across the top layer of snow. A laugh escaped him as the powdered snow rained down on her and made her shriek.

"I'll get you for that, Ratchet!" She declared, smiling widely as she aimed for his face.

"Never!" He cried, shielding his face with his paw and trying to take shelter behind a tree.

The three of them spent most of the morning locked in a snowball fight, flinging snow at each other until they simply became too exhausted to do anything else.

Ratchet laid on his back in the snow, still trying to catch his breath because he'd been laughing so hard. Although his entire body ached, he didn't regret a thing. He let out a grunt when Taylor flopped on his stomach and lifted his head. Cliffjumper soon joined them, plopping down beside him with a loud huff. 

"That was so fun!" Taylor exclaimed between breaths. She propped her head up in her hands and gazed at Ratchet's head with a goofy smile on her face. "I haven't heard you laugh like that in a while."

"I've never heard you laugh like that!" Cliffjumper chimed in with a wheeze.

For the first time in what felt like a long time, Ratchet couldn't stop smiling. It was a real, genuine smile—nothing like the facade he always tried to put on.

"Well... ever since the war began, I haven't really had much to laugh about." Ratchet murmured, a soft sigh escaping him as his smile faltered a bit. He lifted his gaze to fondly look at Taylor. "Then you arrived and helped me find things to be positive about."

Taylor's smile grew. She could feel her heart swelling with love and adoration. Crying was almost a guarantee, but she had managed not to do so—not yet, at least.

"Things still aren't perfect, but... I don't think they ever will be. And that's okay. I wouldn't change what I have for the world." Ratchet said, feeling himself begin to get emotional. He gently laid his paws over Taylor in a sort of hug and leaned his head forward to nuzzle hers.

"Annnd here come the tears." Taylor said with a chuckle as tears spilled down her cheeks.

She wiped them away and pushed herself up a bit so that she could hug Ratchet's snout. She hugged him as tight as she could, putting every ounce of love for him that she had into it.

"I wouldn't change anything, either. Ratch." She sniffled, squeezing her eyes shut. "We've gone through so much already. We can't stop now."

Ratchet closed his eyes as well. "We won't. Not until Megatron is gone."

He thought about home and how much the others must miss them. He thought about how they would react to Cliffjumper as well, since everyone had believed him to be dead.

They would find their way back home. They had to.

•
•
•

Vex squeezed her thumb between her fingers as she stood in the hall with her arms at her sides, trying to steady her nerves. Hearing her boss scream at another soldier through the door didn't help.

Neither did the gunshot that followed.

Silas had been in a terrifyingly bad mood ever since two of his specimens escaped with a girl. Vex had heard rumors from the others that the girl was actually Silas's daughter, though she found it hard to believe that her hard-headed and downright cruel boss had once found love. If he actually had a daughter, she understood why she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

Vex snapped back to reality when the door opened and two soldiers shuffled out with the body of another strung between them. They left a trail of blood droplets behind them as they carried the body away to be disposed of. Vex swallowed the lump in her throat and walked into Silas's office.

Silas stood behind his desk, facing the window that overlooked the patch of forest just outside the facility. His arms were folded behind his back. One of his fingers—his trigger finger, to be exact—twitched with either anticipation or anxiety, though he had never been known to be anxious about anything.

"I assume you have good news." He addressed Vex directly without turning around. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Yes, sir." Vex replied, doing her best to straighten her posture. "Progress has been made with the new arrivals. They've agreed to take us to their leader."

Silas let out a soft snort of amusement. "Hmph... their leader. They're more advanced than they let on." He mused, slowly turning to face her. "Show your face when speaking to me, lieutenant."

Vex stifled a curse as she remembered her mask. She'd grown too accustomed to wearing it in order to better hide her insecurities. Slowly, she loosened the straps and slid the mask off her head, revealing a face partially disfigured with burn scars and a long, white mark that carved across her cheek and split through her top lip.

"I think we are both well aware of what these creatures are capable of, wouldn't you agree?" Silas said, watching her squirm uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Yes, sir." Vex managed to keep her voice steady. "Acquiring information from their leader would benefit the project tremendously. Perhaps we could form an alliance."

A small smirk twitched at the corner of Silas's lips. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. These are animals, after all." He turned back towards the window and fell silent for a moment. "See what else you can learn and make preparations for the operation. You would do best not to fail me like those before you."

"I won't fail, sir." Vex firmly stated.

"I know you won't. Dismissed."

Vex nodded and slipped her mask back on before swiveling around on her heel to walk towards the door. Her heart stubbornly continued to pound despite her best efforts to calm it, even after she was far away from Silas's office.

I will not fail.