"I'm guessing one of you two were the victim of a prank?" he asked.

"Yeah, now if you'll excuse me, I am going to clean up," Optimus replied.

Delirium turned back to me. Out of nowhere, he ran up to me and hugged me tightly as he started to cry.

"I'm sorry," he said between tears.
I hugged him back protectively.
"For what?" I asked.

"I-I don't know really. I know what happened to Arcee and I'm sorry," he replied.

I closed my optics before speaking.

"Delirium, don't be sorry. I'm the one who's really sorry. It's my fault she died," I told him, forcing myself to stay strong.

"Even though she was with you, you can't blame yourself. You can't stop death from happening. I'm just sad that I didn't get to tell her how I felt about her," he replied.

I managed to give him a small smile before coughing a little. He let go of me.

"I'm gonna go to sleep. See ya later," he said as he walked away.

I sighed and cleaned up before heading to bed.

Le next day...

I woke up the next day and quickly realized Optimus wasn't there.

Maybe he's up already.

I got up and looked around the base, but couldn't find him. Instead, I found Hound and Natalie in the training room.

"Hey guys have you seen Optimus?" I asked.

"Nope, but we did hear somebot leave early this morning," Nat replied.

Slag.

"Okay, I'm heading to town," I said.
"We're comin' too," Hound commented.
I nodded before heading out.

We got to the city and drove around for a few minutes. I didn't see Optimus anywhere, which caused me to start panicking. We transformed behind a mountain.

"What if he's in trouble? What if he's hurt...or worse," I said worriedly.

"For cryin' out loud, Blue, he's a Prime. He's the strongest bot I know. He can take care of himself," Hound reminded me.

I sighed.
"Yeah, I know," I replied.

Suddenly, there was an explosion nearby. I quickly transformed and made my way back to the town. I saw that it was a couple of Decepticon punks who were attacking the town. I circled the Cons to get their attention before leading them away. Once we were a good distance away, I transformed and tackled the nearest Decepticon. I slammed him to the ground and punched his face. The D-con stabbed my side with a dagger.

I returned the attack by taking the dagger and stabbing it right into the center his neck. I stood up and came face to face with none other than Starscream. I took out one of my swords, ignoring the stinging pain in my side. He took out his sword too and attacked but I blocked him. We kept our swords together, trying to get the other off balance. An idea came to my mind and I swept at his feet while sidestepping. He fell on his back and I pinned him down.

"Go on, finish me," he said.

I glared at him. As much as I wanted to oblige, it wasn't the way we worked.

"No," I replied.

I was about to let him go but before I could he growled and shoved me away.

"That's it! I'm done with this fragging war!" he exclaimed as he got up, transformed, and left.

Well I never expected that.

I just stood and stared in the direction Starscream had left as the other Decepticon retreated. I looked down and saw a human staring up at me.

Well scrap.
She slowly turned away and ran towards her bike.
"Hey, uh, wait a minute," I tried saying to her.

She didn't reply as she started her bike. I was about to try again but I saw Natalie walking up to her, carrying a little kid who was crying. I put my hand over my side and walked to Hound.

"Hey Blue, there's somebot at the edge of town I think you'll be happy to see," he said with a small smirk.

I smiled and walked around the outside since I couldn't transform. When I saw who it was, I immediately ran up to him.

"Optimus! You're okay. I was so worried about you," I said as I wrapped him in a big hug despite the slight pain in my side.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Why don't we get back so Ratchet can fix you up?" he suggested.

I didn't really want to leave Hound and Natalie but I knew Hound was way more than able to defend himself and Nat. I looked up at Optimus after a moment and saw he was smiling. I smiled back and nodded. He picked me up bridal style and carried me home. I sighed silently and snuggled closer to him. He took me straight to the medbay when we got back. Ratchet fixed me up quickly and did a scan on Optimus.

"Are you okay? You don't normally worry that much when I leave in the mornings," he said after.

"I'm fine," I replied as I took my sparkmate's hand and led him to our room.

"Hey, uh, maybe you could stay home for a bit, as in not go to any battles," I half asked, half begged him.

"What? Blue, you know I can't do that. Why would you even ask that? Do you not think I can take care of myself?" he replied.

"Actually, yes! You've almost been killed before!" I replied, a bit angrier than I intended.

"So have you! Yet I don't see you ever staying back!" he yelled back.

After a moment of silence, he added, "You know what, I'm going to sleep on the couch."

Optimus then walked out and when he was gone, I sighed as a few tears ran down my face.

"Goodnight, Blue," I heard Optimus say over the comm.

I felt really bad for getting angry. I understood how he felt with me but I was just so scared that he would be the next one to get killed. I crawled into bed and quietly sobbed until I fell asleep.

Dream
"You could've saved us."

I looked around frantically but all I saw was blackness. "Who said that? Where are you? Where am I?" I asked the air. Then, a scene slowly appeared. The stars in the sparkled brightly and the full moon was like the sun, casting shadows on the ground. I looked down at the ground and gasped. Everybot was lying either dead or dying. I saw Optimus and fell to my knees beside him.

"Optimus. Hey, babe. You're gonna be okay," I said as I struggled to hold back tears. I placed a hand on his scarred up chest. There was a gaping blast wound in his torso. He opened his optics. "You...could've saved...us," he managed to say before his optics went dark. "No...no no no no. Please, Optimus, you have to be okay," I begged. I was now shaking and no longer able to keep myself from crying.

I looked up and saw my son standing over me with a smirk and glowing purple optics. There was another giant being behind him. "You could've prevented this. All you had to do was join me, my daughter," a voice said. "Who are you?" I asked. "I am Unicron, your father," he replied.
Dream end

I gasped and sat upright, my face wet from crying. After a moment, I realized that Optimus was sitting next to me. I immediately wrapped him in a big hug and closed my optics, taking deep, shaky breaths in an attempt to try to calm myself down. He held me protectively.

"It's okay. I'm here. I'm here," he said.

After a couple minutes, I finally calmed down enough to talk.

"I'm really sorry, Optimus. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I know you can take care of yourself," I apologized, looking down at the ground.

"I'm just so scared of losing you and that dream didn't help any, either," I added softly.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have yelled either. But, hey, I'm not going nowhere anytime soon. Plus, when have you ever known me to stay dead?" he joked.

I gave him a small smile and wrapped him in a hug again.

Still, next time might be the last time.

Then, he gently lifted my head and kissed me passionately. I smirked and pushed him gently but firmly onto the bed. He smiled and held me. Suddenly the alarms went off.

Slag.

I stood up and went out to the main room. Hound, Crosshairs, Paradox, Ares, Hot Shot, Mirage, Bee, Quarre, and Vortex were already there. I glanced at the monitor. Thanks to Natalie and Jane putting up hidden cameras around town, we could see that Airachnid and Knockout were chasing the same girl we saw before.

"Alright let's roll," Optimus ordered.

I smiled a little and transformed. We drove to the city and Optimus started chasing Knockout. I stayed beside him and we followed him out of the town. That's when Megatron and some of his lackies showed up.

Wonderful.

Optimus transformed and tackled Megatron. I transformed, too and stayed close by.

"So StarCatcher is still sick in bed," Knockout taunted.

"That's none of your business," I growled at him.
He only shrugged.

"Well, you won't have to worry about us much longer," he said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Now that we have the Omega Lock and all the Cyber Planet Keys, we're going back to Cybertron," Knockout explained.

"We won't let you do that," I told him.
"Someone HELP ME!"

I turned around and saw Airachnid holding the same human girl I had seen before. I turned back to Knockout and saw that he was retreating.

Coward.

I ran the opposite way towards the Decepticon spider and took my one of my swords.

"Let her go! She has nothing to do with this," I ordered.

"Step away, Autobot. You let my daughter be killed once. I'm not letting you do it again!" she hissed before spraying a web onto me.

I glared at her for mentioning Arcee, even though she was her mother and it was my fault. She ran off into the rocky desert. I hopped over to Crosshairs. He smiled and tried to keep himself from laughing but failed epicly.

"Shut up and help me before I get Star to paralyze you again," I told him.

He quickly quieted down and cut the webs off.
"Autobots, after them," I heard Optimus instruct.

I looked around for my sparkmate and as soon as I found him, I ran to his side. He had a big gash across his chest.

"Paradox!" I called.

She came running over and immediately started fixing him up.

"Hello, mother. Hello, father," I heard somebot say from behind us.

I turned around and saw none other than Orion.
Slag.

"Hey my little Prime," I said as I approached him slowly.

He took out his bow and notched an arrow aimed at me. I stopped and put my hands up.

"I'll give you and Dad one last chance to join grandpa and me," he said.

Optimus moved in front of me.
"I don't understand, son. Explain," he said.

"I've joined with mom's father. We want both of you to join with us as well so we can be a family again," Orion replied.

"I still don't understand but we don't have time for this. Megatron is already on his way to Cybertron," Optimus said.

"Cybertron has been doomed for eons. He is coming," our son mentioned.

"Who?" I asked.
"Unicron, the planet eater," he replied.

"Then we have to go. If you try to stop us, then unfortunately you will face the same fate as Unicron," my sparkmate warned.

Orion released the arrow and it hit Optimus in the shoulder. That was when I moved in front of him.

"Orion, stop! You're not yourself. We can be a family again if you would just break away. Please," I begged.

He shook his head.

"No. It's my destiny. If you won't join me, then I have no other choice but to destroy you," he replied.

I looked back at Optimus and saw him brake off part of the arrow before taking out his weapon. I followed his lead by taking out one of my swords, as much as I hated it. Orion shot another arrow at me, but I deflected it with my sword. He then took out a dagger and threw it at me. I wasn't able to dodge it, so it hit me in the chest. My sparkmate then tried to shoot him in the shoulder but missed. Orion tried to shoot another arrow at him but also missed. He turned to me again and tackled me.

He pulled out the dagger and tried to stab me in the head but I was able to hold him off, though I didn't know how long I would be able to keep it up since he was a lot stronger than I was. Optimus pulled him away and punched him in the face. Orion retaliated by hitting him in the back. Optimus then pinned his arm behind his back. I stood up just as Orion broke free. He stabbed his father with the dagger then jumped back. He and Optimus continued to fight with their blades until my sparkmate managed to stab our son in the spark.

He staggered back and fell down. Optimus went over and held him, despite all he had done. I ran over and knelt beside them, a few silent tears running down my face. I wasn't mad at Optimus one bit because I would've done the same. Unfortunately we were unable to get through to him. His optics flickered between purple and blue.

"D-dad...m-mom...I'm so sor..." was all he was able to say before his optics went dark.

I turned my head away and stood up as I wiped my optics.

I will find whoever did this to you, my little Prime, and kill them.

"Let's go get Megatron," I said, angrily clenching my fists.

Optimus stood as well.

"Alright, Autobots, we must stop Megatron at all costs. If he manages to get out of the solar system with the Omega Lock, Cybertron is inevitably doomed. So today we fight not just for ourselves but for our planet and its future," he spoke over the comm.

"Ratchet, we need a groundbridge to the ship," I said, also over the comm.

"On it. Oh, Red Alert and Flamesight had to go back to their own time. Side Burn went with them too," he replied.

A few seconds later, a green portal appeared.

"Hound, Crosshairs, Paradox, Mirage, Hot Shot, Override, Quarre, Vortex and Bee, come to my location. We're going to get the spaceship," I told them over the comm.

In about two minutes, they were all there. Everyone went in and I turned to my sparkmate. I knew he had jet boots but I was really hoping he would come with. He looked at Orion one last time.

"Lead them," he told me before he flew off.

I took a deep breath. I had never actually led before, let alone a team this size. I ran into the portal and joined every bot else on the bridge.

"Alright, we have a mission to accomplish: stop Megatron and save Cybertron, hopefully ending this war once and for all in the process. I can't promise you a ride home, but if you're with me, our planet needs us now," I explained.

"I can find my own ride home, commander," Vortex replied.

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting being called commander.

I nodded once and asked, "Who else?"
Every hand went up, making me smile just a little.

"Autobots, upon arrival do not engage the enemy. There is a bigger threat that we must defeat first," Optimus ordered over the comm.

"Alright then. Let's gas it up and blow it out!" I exclaimed.

Everybot just stared at me in dead silence. In another part of the Ark, the was a crash and a cat screech.

"Yeah...that sounded better in my head...let's just move out. Vortex, you'll be piloting the ship," I said after a moment.

He nodded and sat in the pilot seat.

"Hound and Crosshairs, you two will be in charge of the weapons," I told them.

"Alright! Time to take scalps and slit throats," Hound said excitedly as the two ran off to the ship's guns.

"The rest of you, go find something to do. Bee, Hot Shot, and Quarre, you three are banned from piloting," I instructed.

"Wait why?" my daughter asked.

"You're blind in one optic. Bee and Hot Shot can't fly," I answered.

She simply nodded. We found the Decepticons fairly easily. As soon as Unicron came into view, I gasped. He was ginormous! We pulled up next to the Cons. I went out on the deck and just stared.

How are we ever going to defeat him?
Optimus came over and stumbled a little.

"Alright, Blue you're with me. The rest of you make sure our defenses are up and none of the Cons try to bail. If Unicron attacks, go on the defensive not the offensive. Is that clear?" he asked.

"Yes sir!" everybot replied in unison.

"Are you sure, babe? You should have Paradox fix you up first," I said worriedly.

"I'll be fine hun. It's just a scratch," he replied.

I smiled and shook my head. I looked back at Unicron and saw him transforming.

"Frag," I mumbled as I ran back inside the ship.
"Bee, you're in command now," I told him.
He nodded then I ran back out.
"Let's go kick his giant aft," I said eagerly.

My sparkmate smiled. Megatron transformed as Optimus came over to me. He held my hand and activated his boot jets. We flew to Unicron and landed on his arm. Megatron blasted a hole in big enough for us but the planet eater didn't seem to notice. He jumped in and Optimus lowered me in before following last. I shivered. It felt so weird being inside another being.

"We don't have much time. Unicron knows we're here," Megatron mentioned as he started walking away.

We followed him to the spark chamber. Since Megatron was immune to Dark Energon, he fooled Unicron's system into letting us in. Once we were inside, Optimus and Megatron were hit with an unseen force. Then, something picked them up and held them in the air.

"You think you can defeat me!?" Unicron roared.
"I know we can!" I answered, full of determination.

Silence flooded the area as everything seemed to stand still.

"Don't be so foolish, my daughter," he said.
What....
"Do you not know?" Unicron asked after a moment.
"I know that you're insane," I replied.

"Now is that any way to talk to your father?" he questioned.

"What do you mean? Both of my fathers were killed," I replied.

"Yes but I was the one who created you," he said.
No...there's no way I'm related to you.

"I don't believe you. I'm nothing like you," I told him, clenching my fists.

"You're able to resist Dark Energon when it's not under Megatron's control, correct? Surely, you know the other name for it," he said.

"The blood of Unicron," I said slowly.

"Right. Your systems were already familiar with Dark Energon because I created you that way in hopes that you would join me one day," he explained.

"I...no. I don't believe it," I said.

"Do you really not believe it, or are you just refusing to see the truth?" he asked.

It makes perfect sense, but...this guy's evil and I'm not...am I?

Suddenly I understood why the Primes had been watching me all those years ago back in Egypt and why they had said I proved to be loyal to the Autobots.

They knew who I was.

"It was your destiny to eventually join me," Unicron said.

"No way! I will never join you! You may technically be my father but I have the spark of an Autobot," I told him.

"Do you really think they'll trust you, let alone accept you?" I heard his voice in my head.

I looked down sadly.
He's right, but I still can't let him hurt them.
I looked back up at him.

"If I join you, will you promise to leave Earth and the Autobots, my family, alone forever?" I asked.

He thought for a moment.
"Very well," he replied.

He then set Megatron and Optimus down. Optimus came over to me and I noticed that he was trying to hold back tears.

"Blue, we can beat him. You don't have to go. Please don't go," he begged.

"Optimus...I love you very very much, more than you will ever know which is why I have to go," I told him quietly as tears escaped my own optics.

We already lost our son, I won't risk losing you too. Even if you stop loving me because of this and because of who I am, I will never ever stop loving you. You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me next to our kids.

"I swear by my spark that I will find my way back to you soon. Whatever happens while I'm away, just remember this. True strength isn't our physical ability; it is how we handle the ups and downs of the war and make them our own," I added.

I gave him a small smile as I looked at him straight in the optics. Then, I cupped his cheeks in my hands and kissed him on the lips. Tears fell from his optics as he stepped away. He started walking back but fell. Before I could go to him, Megatron did and helped him up, so I stayed put.

After a few minutes, Unicron said, "They're gone. Come up and sit on my shoulder."

I made my way out and climbed up.

"No more eating planets with life. I'll help you find uninhabited planets to munch on," I told him.

"Fair enough," he replied as he started moving away.
I hope this was the right choice.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]