"There can be no light without darkness."

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Warning: pretty gory
I felt a bit sick writing this

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Dust blows across the street, swirling around the two figures; one human, and one alien. Screams of terror drown out the sounds of the battle, though deafeningly silent to the young female. Every breath is difficult for her; not due to her impact with the car, or the encounter with Starscream, but to the smell. The scent of death is heavy in the air, its foul stench filling her lungs.

"A child can do nothing against me!" Megatron claims, roaring pridefully. "I am the leader of the Decepticons!"

"A child is innocent," the woman steps forward, eyes never leaving her target. "But I lost my innocence many years ago. It will not be a child that takes you from this world."

"So much talk," he sneers, sharp denta glinting in the sun. "Tell me, are you all bark and no bite?"

"Oh, trust me, Rust-Bucket, I have plenty of bite," Toby growls, features darkening tremendously as she lifts her gun.

Megatron snarls, running towards the woman, ready to end the insect's life.

The woman squeezes the trigger, the projectile exploding on impact.

The Decepticon remains almost unfazed, only a flash of annoyance to be found on his faceplates. "You will die!"

"Everyone has their time, I just happen to know that your time is up," Toby rolls behind an abandoned car as his massive pede crashes down where she was just moments ago. "And I don't care if you smash my hourglass, because I have served what purpose I had in life."

The car shielding her suddenly disappears, picked up by Megatron. He grins in victory, tossing the vehicle aside and reaching for her with a clawed servo.

The second his optics are in clear view, she fires. He howls in pain, scratching at his faceplates as he stumbles backwards. Megatron hollers, clicking furiously when his vision clears and finds that his prey has disappeared.

"If you do not fear for your own death, perhaps you will for the death of one of your Autobot allies," He eyes the rubble in the street, crouching to catch the woman's scent. The Decepticon rumbles in anger as something shoots the more vulnerable section of his back struts. He whips around, smashing several cars in the process, unknowingly creating a path for his prey to travel unnoticed.

"You already killed one of them!" Toby howls, laying flat to the ground behind a mound of concrete. Rage fills her voice, rattling harshly in her throat.

"And you failed to save him, did you not?" She curses at his amusement, having nothing to snap back. "That is because you are weak. And the weak do not survive."

The whir of her plasma blaster alerts the Decepticon leader to her location, causing him to press his gun barrel to the pile of fallen debris with a smirk. There's a terrific explosion, his shot leaving a deep, smoking crater in the road.

He stands, victorious in his endeavour, and turns to the now empty street, seeking the scent of the adolescent male that carries the Allspark. His pede steps shake the city, sending the humans bolting in the opposite direction and the Autobots retreating to their commander.

A burning sensation arises on his shoulder strut, and a miniscule force sways his form. He roars, swinging his helm to face the being that dares attack him, but who he sees makes him step back in the slightest movement. The woman from before, his prey, stands with her footing firm and gun at eye level, festering hatred practically glowing in her glacier blue orbs.

"Then how come I'm still alive, scrapheap," her voice almost remains unheard she growls so lowly.

"You will not be for much longer, I assure you," the Decepticon swipes at her, only to receive an armour-melting blast to his servo. He watches in screaming agony as the tip of a digit dulls in the glowing heat.

"Come esto, falla," his prey snarls dangerously, pulling her trigger again. The blast hits the same place, and she fires again.

Megatron roars in agony, his servo melting further with each shot fired, attempting to knock the woman off her feet. With a flick of a digit that narrowly misses her head, she steps backwards, her repeated fire halting for less than a second—a moment the Decepticon uses to his advantage.

He backhands her, knocking the gun from her hand and sends her flying into the wall of a building with a scream. All the air in her lungs disappears, leaving her breathless and motionless. Small tears escape her eyes, leaving a trail on her dust coated cheeks.

"You were a fool to think could take on the might of the Decepticons!" His figure strides over, blurry and wavering in the woman's vision.

"I'm—," she gulps, her arms shaking as she pushes herself from the ground, "I'm a foolish person."

"That will be the end of you."

"Maybe so, but I like to think that my actions affect those around me. My foolishness will likely destroy you," hardly a whisper, but it is heard.

Megatron laughs at her words, reaching for her again. Seeing the action before it happens, the woman rolls out of the way, landing her in a filthy alleyway. The Decepticon grins, knowing his prey is finally defeated.

With a cough, Toby presses herself against a dumpster bin, clutching her ribs as her adrenaline wears off. She must have broken a bone or something when she hit the wall, because every breath is absolute agony. The world spins and her head pounds, whatever happened when she touched the Allspark coming back to haunt her.

She whimpers quietly, risking a fleeting glance at the Decepticon, inhaling sharply with wide eyes when discovering two crimson red optics already locked on her. The woman smirks grimly, a strand of hair loosing itself from her white baseball cap.

A thunderous growl rumbles through the alley she hides in and a disfigured servo closes around her. She feels her bones creak, her ribs cracking from the applied pressure, but she does not scream. Her lungs are on fire and her head pounds dangerously, her sight becoming nothing more than a blur of colours and shapes.

"I'll enjoy killing you, insect," Megatron hisses through clenched denta, standing to his full height with the woman in his grasp.

Toby groans, refusing to look down as her stomach clenches. Black spots appear in her vision, and she gasps for air, only to find that she can't.

"Toby!" A fearful cry rings in her ears, her lack of oxygen making it impossible to recognise the owner.

"Ah, so the Autobots care for you, do they?" He grins at his discovery, watching the woman struggle to stay conscious. "Good. Then they can watch you die."

"Y-you will b-e the o-o-one t-to die tod-d-day, M-Mega-atron," she wheezes, meeting his optics the best she can, her cold fury still burning viciously in her eyes.

"We shall see, disciple of Primus."

The words don't register properly, leaving her cross-eyed and confused as the pressure increases, pulling an agonising scream from her lips. Her throat runs dry and her pained screams become cracked and hoarse.

Her screams decrease in volume while the Decepticon warlord loosens his grip, intent on making the woman suffer in her last moments. His free servo shifting into his arm, quickly replaced by a long blade that glints threateningly in the afternoon sun.

Toby suddenly finds herself feeling weightless, falling through the air towards the growing ground. There's a sickening crunch accompanied by an ear splitting scream as the woman's leg crumples beneath her.

A flash of metal and Toby accepts her fate, crying out again as her own blood splatters across her face. Her right arm burning in agonising heat, numb from the elbow down. Metal flashes again, this time red adorns it like a trophy, and the woman loses her ability to feel anything other than pain, screaming herself hoarse with tears streaming down her face.

The ground trembles, though she has no knowledge of it, not as warmth oozes from her open wounds, threatening her life further with each passing second. Every breath is a wheezing gasp, her broken ribs pressing hazardously against her lungs. Her clothes become wet and sticky, her once white top now crimson in colour and red drying on her cheeks.

Megatron walks away, abandoning the woman to bleed out in the street, knowing that she won't survive much longer. The Decepticon is victorious, now all he requires is the Cube held by the insufferable adolescent male.

And she remains still, icy eyes almost unblinking in a pool of her own blood with a hand reaching for her fallen white cap, splattered with rust coloured gore.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

The fallen body of Megatron lays still amongst the rubble, a gaping hole in his chest. His optics display no sign of life, no chance of return for the Decepticon warlord. But his corpse bears scars, recent ones at that, and not even Optimus Prime can figure out what caused them.

Soldiers and Autobots surround the Prime and the boy at his pedes, all grateful for what they have done on this day.

"Sam, I owe you my life. We are in your debt," Optimus kneels before the boy, eternally thankful for his actions.

A GMC tow truck pulls up in the middle of the street, carrying a scarred Bumblebee behind it. The soldiers turn to face the newcomer as they jump out of the cabin, a weary Mikaela Banes greeting them before looking at Sam. Their eyes lock and the girl gives him a proud smile that he returns graciously.

"Prime," the weapon specialist's voice causes the Autobot leader to turn, a sad sight greeting him, "we couldn't save him."

"Oh, Jazz," he takes his fallen friend's body in his servos, saddened by the loss. "We lost a great comrade, but gained new ones," he looks to the humans with gratitude. "Thank you, all of you. You honour us with your bravery."

"Permission to speak, sir?" A new voice speaks with a thick accent, drawing attention to the young Autobot scout.

"Permission granted, old friend," despite his grief, joy fills Optimus' spark upon hearing his friend's voice for the first time in many centuries.

"You speak now?" Sam jumps up, spinning to face his guardian with a beaming smile.

"I wish to stay with the boy," Bumblebee acknowledges his friend briefly before returning his gaze to his leader.

"If that is his choice."

"Yes," Sam speaks with no hesitation, eyes sparkling with acceptance

Ratchet paces behind the Prime, optics scanning the humans that surround them with anticipation. Unable to stay silent any longer, he faces his friend, concern evident on his faceplates. "Where is our companion? Where is Toby?"

"I have not seen our friend since before the battle," Optimus' optic brows furrow, mirroring the medic in worry.

"We'll send out a search party," Lennox steps forward, unfazed by the size difference between the two species. "What does he look like?"

"She is about your height, with ginger hair—" the medic begins, gesturing to the human.

"—wearing a white baseball cap?" The captain finishes, nodding as he remembers her.

"Wait," Epps speaks up, eyes wide in realisation, "Toby Williams, right?"

"That is correct," Ratchet vents in agitation, not fond of being interrupted.

"Will, we should split up, she could be anywhere," the man addresses his friend and superior, attempting to mask his fear.

"I agree," Lennox does not miss the flash in the soldier's eyes, turning to face the rest of the group. "Everyone will pair up with a 'bot—if that works with you," he adds quickly, but already finds that almost all the Autobots have each picked a human.

The captain chooses to go with Ratchet, having only—and quite literally—bumped into her once in the middle of the battle. He asks him simple questions as they go along, despite only receiving answers to a few.

Epps however, goes along with the trigger happy weapons specialist, not saying a word to him as they scour the decimated streets for the younger mechanic. Ironhide, however, seems to have a few things on his processor.

"How do you know Toby?" He asks, checking an alleyway for signs of life, finding only a family of raccoons.

"She's my niece; her mother was a very close friend of mine and made me her honorary uncle when she was born," the soldier pushes over a piece of concrete, grimacing upon finding a dismembered arm. "That's not what I was hoping for."

"What was she like before her carrier passed?"

"Uh, she was sweet, innocent, freakishly intelligent—if you got her going with the mechanics of time, she'd break it down and explain it like a college professor. That was terrifying," he shrugs, thinking of the little child that would ask him to braid her hair and then run off to do it to her mother.

"Not violent, or quick to act?" Ironhide raises an optic brow, curious about his friend's behaviour.

"No, not at all. She would study a situation before she acted and never resorted to violence," he sighs, glancing between abandoned cars. "That only changed after Margret died."

"I see," the weapons specialist hums, looking in another alleyway for the woman.

Epps steps around a scrapheap of crashed vehicles, eyeing the interiors for possible hiding places. Seeing nothing, he jumps on top the crumpled hood of a truck.

His heart all but stops when he catches a glance of a pale, blood splattered hand peeking out from behind a pile of rubble.

'No, no, no, no!' He barrels over, abandoning Ironhide behind him as he leaps over fallen chunks of building. 'It can't be her! It can't be!'

His eyes grow wide and a nauseating feeling grows in his stomach. Blood pools around an unrecognisable body, staining their simple attire a grim red. They lay broken on the ground, black bruises colouring their pale skin, and ginger hair spread out around their head, locks stuck together with the red liquid. The most sickening detail is the absence of two limbs—their right leg and their right forearm—clearly removed during the battle as they continuously spout blood from the torn stubs. Two blue eyes shed a steady fall of pain filled tears, staring dully at the cloudless sky.

A white cap lays at his feet, kicked away in the soldier's haste to reach the person's side. He falls to his knees, uncaring of the foul liquid staining his uniform as he searches their face for any kind of familiarity. This time, he's almost certain that his heart actually does stop.

"Tobbes?" The girl's eyes meet his, an agonised sob shaking her chest at the use of her childhood nickname.

"Unc-cle?"

He smiles at her, though it's broken and sorrowful, and pulls his radio from his belt. "Epps to Lennox, do you copy?"

Static fizzes from the other end, quickly replaced by his captain's voice. "~Lennox to Epps, I copy~"

"I've found her, requesting medical aid ASAP," the soldier looks down at the girl, holding his breath as he awaits a response.

"~Request accepted, we'll have medics with you in a moment~" there's a second of static before his voice comes back. "~What state is she in?~"

"Not good, Will. She requires serious medical attention,"

"~We'll be there in a minute~"

"You might want to quicken your pace, she d—she doesn't—" he can't finish his sentence, not wanting to accept that the girl is losing time.

"D-did we w-w-win?" Her voice cracks, fading blue eyes filling with an unending stream of tears.

"Yeah, we won," Epps holds her hand, gently cradling it with his own. He swallows back his grief, determined to remain strong for his little niece.

"Go-od," she wheezes, her fear strong on her pained expression. "Te-e-ell Ratch-chet that I'm t-thankful that I joined h-him. T-that he m-m-made me fe-el accepted for the first t-time since mom d-died."

"You can tell him yourself, Tobbes," the soldier hides a small sob into his sleeve.

"We b-b-both know that's not t-true."

"~Epps, you still there?~" Lennox's voice crackles through the radio, causing the man to snatch it from the ground.

"You better hurry your arse up," he hisses, briefly glancing at the girl beside him.

"~We're almost there~" the ground shakes, proving his statement to be true.

Voices of worry and concern meld together, the girl unable to sort through them all in her barely conscious mind. Black spots dance in her vision, denying her one last view of her family.

The darkness beckons her, calling to her like a siren's song, promising peace and warmth. She reaches for it, stepping closer to answer its summoning. A sound stops her. She turns back to face the land of the living, and though unable to see anything, she can distinctly hear sobs. And... a plea. There are no words she can recognise, in fact, there are no words at all, only whirs and clicks. But there is no doubting that the owner of the voice is begging her to stay.

A soft smile appears on her lips, though weak and weary, she speaks to them. "D-on't cry for me, P-Piston."

"Toby," she knows that voice, very well.

"You have t-the rest of y-y-your li-life to live for oth-thers, just as I-I-I have t-the rest o-of mine," she chuckles, harshly coughing as a result.

"You're not going to die," Ratchet forces himself to remain stoic, preparing what little medical supplies he can use.

"I kn-n-n-new from t-t-the moment t-that the battle b-began, that I-I wasn't going t-to make it," the girl rasps, her eyes looking to the clear skies above. Her body begins to grow cold, and she knows she has little time left. "T-tha-a-ank y-y—"

Her lips part in a silent acceptance of peace, icy blue eyes disappearing beneath heavy lids. The girl's hand falls from her uncle's, leaving him in denial and shock. Sound is non-existent, a peaceful, yet saddening silence taking its place. Darkness consumes her, taking her hand and embracing her with warm and welcoming arms like an old friend greeting another.

"Toby..." 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, that was depressing to write.

Hope you enjoyed!

Until next time!

Drag0nRider out!