"When life gives you a chance to keep living, you better damn well take it."

Optimus took a small pause from the battle with the Vehicons when he heard the sound of a jet. A rather familiar jet.

"Optimus," Megatron grinned trumpiantly, although the Prime had yet to see what had put the warlord in such a good mood.

"Megatron," Optimus acknowledged his former friend, "Do you not see the folly in trying to force a prophecy to fruition?"

"Why leave matters to fate if one can forge one's own destiny?" The warlord grinned, light glinting off his sharp dentas, "Ah, speaking of fate," Megatron said, amused as he spotted the Autobots' scout, holding two things in his servos.

Optimus' optics widened when he spotted the charges of Bumblebee and Ratchet limp in Bumblebee's servos.

"Raf! Pan!" Arcee's panicked voice called out as she raced over to Bumblebee, her slimmer servos being much more suited for handling the humans.

"They're both breathing," Arcee said, the remaining Autobots almost relaxed, "Barely."

"Yes, it would seem I swatted a Bee and squashed a bug, or two," Megatron chuckled, his purple optics dark with amusement.

Bumblebee's optics clouded with fury, "You fragger!" The younger cybertronian attempted to lunge at him, only to be stopped by a certain ex-wrecker.

"Bee, no!" Bulkhead shouted, holding the young bot back.

Optimus couldn't help the frustration building up, feeling like he failed his old friend back at base, the medic's synthen words came back to play in his processor, before the prime shook his head slightly, "Ratchet, bridge us back now."

"Arcee, attend to Panacea, Rafael and Bumblebee."

🛠

Ratchet waited anxiously for somebot to come through the ground bridge. A horrible feeling had started growing as soon as he heard Optimus' comm for a ground bridge.

The medic's optics widened in horror as he quickly spotted the reasoning for the ground bridge.

"Raf?"

"Pan!?!"

"What happened?" Ratchet to ask, his glossa surprisingly heavy as he feared the answer.

"Megatron," Arcee growled out furiously.

"Quickly, into my laboratory," Ratchet ushered, somehow managing to get to work. The medic hooked the pair of humans up to a heart monitor each before pausing, his optical ridges furrowing as he realised that he didn't actually know what to do next, his optics scanned the monitor, "They aren't responding. We must run diagnostics of their assemblage -- eh, vital statistics," Ratchet tried to think, before his frustration at being useless finally appeared, "Oh, my tools -- they're all wrong!"

Jack spoke up, startling the medic, "We need to call my mom," he said, bringing out his cell phone.

"Your mother may be a nurse, but does she know anything about the effects of Energon on the human body?" Ratchet snapped at the boy.

"Wh-- do you know anything about the human body?" Jack shot back. When the medic didn't respond the teenager took that as his cue, "Mom, it's urgent!" He said into the phone.

Ratchet looked at his servos frustratedly before glancing over to where the two unconscious teens lay, the older teen's face showing panic at something in the darkness that surrounded her, ""The weak will perish."" Ratchet quoted to himself, his spark humming with worry, "Be strong, Panacea, Rafael."

🛠

"Pan!"

A giggle came out of the darkness and she turned around, a smile lighting up her face as she spotted her little cousin, "Logan!"

The nine year old raced towards the five year old, picked him up, and hugged him, "Don't do that again," she scolded him.

"Do what?" Logan smiled innocently at her.

Pan narrowed her green eyes at him, "You know perfectly well "what", little cousin."

"It was just a little fun, Panda," The five year old grinned, one of his front teeth missing.

Pan shook her head, her short black hair bouncing on her shoulders, ""A little fun"? You know perfectly well that if I had lost you, Mom, Dad, Aunt, and Uncle will have my head," she said, placing Logan back on the ground.

Logan giggled. His light hazel eyes twinkled with amusement, "So when are you going to admit your feelings for good ol'e Ratchet?"

Pan blushed instantly, before scowling at her younger cousin, "I have no idea what you mean."

Logan raised an eyebrow at his older cousin, "Weally?"

A thought suddenly struck Pan, "How do you know about Ratchet?"

Logan shrugged, "I don't know, you tell me."

Pan frowned, looking at her five year old cousin- wait.

"This isn't real," Pan shook her head, "The Logan I know is fourteen. And he has no idea about the Autobots."

The "fake" Logan shrugged, "That's true."

Pan narrowed her eyes onto the "fake", "Then who or what are you?"

🛠

"Mom, thank --"

"Grab my bag! Measuring the extent of the absorption should determine the proper course of treatment," June started, only for Bumblebee to cut in and the woman to snap furiously at him, "If I don't get these teens stabilized now, they will not leave this table alive."

"Do you understand me?"

"Bee, listen," Arcee tried, "You think I don't know how it feels to watch a partner Harmed? Revenge won't help Raf right now. You need to keep your emotions in check."

Bumblebee glanced over to the limp form of his charge and sighed, "Alright."

:[Ratchet, how are Rafael and Panacea?]: Optimus commed the medic.

"It is too soon to know," Ratchet responded.

:[They're in good hands]: Optimus tried to console his friend.

"Not mine, Optimus. Curse my cybertronian pride. We've accepted these humans into our lives, yet I bothered to learn so little of their science or medicine," Ratchet growled at himself.

:[Pull yourself together, old friend. Rafael and Panacea need you]: Optimus scolded him.

"And I have grown to need them." The medic sighed before mentally adding into his spoken sentence, 'To need her.'

🛠

"Jack," June ordered, drawing everyone's attention the woman, "Help me get Raf and Pan to the car. They're going to the emergency room."

"Nurse Darby, your doctors won't be able to comprehend what's afflicting them -- not without a decade of study" Ratchet tried to persuade the nurse. His spark panicking at the mere thought of Pan leaving the base in the state she was

June raised a hand firmly, "I don't have time to argue."

"The effects of an energon blast on an autobot can be devastating enough, but this is a human. I'm not getting any readings," Ratchet's optics widened in realization, "How could I not have seen this? Pan and Rafael have been infected with Dark Energon."

"If Dark Energon is devouring them from the inside out, we must expel it and fast, the only possible way I know," Ratchet paused, looking at the others with a hopeful look in his optics, "I need Energon. "

"Wait. You said Energon was devastating to humans."

"Under normal circumstances, quite. But I am relying upon the dark matter currently invading Pan and Rafael's bodies to meet it head on."

🛠

Images flickered past Pan

"What was it they wrote? -- "the weak shall perish"?"

"Do not believe everything you read."

"See, young human? You still have plenty to learn before you are ready."

"Ready for what?"

An amused chuckle left his throat at the girl's question.

🛠

"I need them over here now!"

A few tense seconds passed by.

"Pulse rate is stabilizing."

"Bee?" Raf managed out, a small smile on his lips as he looked weakly at his Autobot. The aforementioned bot chuckled.

"Right here, Raf," He answered, a relieved smile on his derma.

They then looked towards Pan who looked to be in deep sleep still. The Autobot medic started growing anxious the longer it took for the girl to regain consciousness.

It was about two minutes, forty-four seconds, and eighty-two milliseconds later when a light groan left Pan's lips as her eyes fluttered open.

Pan glance up around her, an uncomfortable look on her face, 'I am never doing that again,' She signed tiredly and they laughed in relief.

Panacea was going to be alright.

🛠

"Ready for what?" She had asked him again, her firm green eyes had been staring him down.

"Ready for your destiny."

🛠

'Where's Optimus?' Pan's innocent question made her Autobot's optics widen as he turned to the green mech in the room.

"Bulkhead, you let Optimus face Megatron alone?" The medic asked him, panic evident in his voice.

"I didn't have a choice," Bulkhead said, his optics wide.

Ratchet growled under his breath before quickly making his way to the cybertronian sized computer, "I'm locked onto Optimus' signal. Wait. How is this possible?" The medic gasped.

"What? What is it?"

"We need to get Optimus out of there now! "

🛠

"Dark Energon erupting from the earth?"

"You still have plenty to learn, young Panacea Hammer."

Here's Chapter Forty One(as promised).

Who is this mysterious person? And what does he have to do with Pan and her "Destiny"?

What do you think is going to happen next?

Guys..... I just realized something.....
I haven't actually seen season two of Transformers Prime yet.......
Except for like the last five mintues of the last episode(I cried. No shame here.)......
Guess I have a lot of watching to do.......
Wish me luck.

Hope ya'll enjoyed!
Feedback?

Oooooh, guys look! Look!

There are two Ratchet fanfics on the top three of Transformers tag!
(B.t.w, go check out Without a Word. It's awesome!)
And I feel like most of the inspiration for this book came from WaW. Except that WaW is a platonic relationship, and this book is a romantic......
And my crazy ideas...(a.k.a Pan being related to Silas).

Okay. That's all. Toodles!