—the fallen star—

Astraea Maxxine Mayweather had graduated with a double master's in both archaeology and anthropology a few months prior; a bright-eyed young woman barely turned twenty-four.

However, this was not the Astraea from the dimension where the Autobots destroyed the Earth.

This was the original Astraea of this universe.

The Astraea born of this reality was a normal woman without any supreme speed.

She was born loved, the oldest of three in an apple-pie family. She was born in North Dakota on a rainy day in May at the end of the 80s'. She grew up in the suburbs where barely anything ever happened: as much as she loved her family and they loved her, she grew up bored with dreams that seemed far too big.

Yet, she accomplished many of her dreams when she went to college on the other side of the country and graduated with her master's degree. Astraea had always dreamt of being an explorer, so it seemed a nice fit for her to study both archaeology and anthropology with a minor in history.

She intended to one day garner a place on the excavation team in Egypt, the ancient Egyptian history had always fascinated her. She wanted to be the person who found the lost tomb of Cleopatra—even if it most likely was submerged along with the rest of ancient Alexandria.

However, for the moment, as a new graduate, she settled for taking smaller jobs around the United States.

Currently, as fate would have it, she was hired by a small research team to take samples of rather odd glowing crystals in a cave just off the coast of Astoria, Oregon.

It lay in the heart of a rugged mountain range, nestled amidst towering cliffs and veiled by the whispering mist, its depths concealing secrets from ages long past.

Astraea had tilted her head in wonder when she made it far enough in the large and wet cavern. It was teeming with blue glowing crystals: rocks that she had never seen before. She had no clue what type of rocks these even were—igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic? It did not look like any of the main rock types.

And they were glowing at that. She had so many questions: did they glow in the sunlight as they did in the dark of the cave? Were they only local to Oregon?

As she delved deeper, the glimmer of the rocks illuminated her path, casting an ethereal glow upon the ancient rock formations. Astraea surged forward, eyes excited as she immediately began chipping away to get samples. Perhaps this boring little job would turn out to be much more exciting than she thought.

It was old, she could tell that these rocks had been here for thousands and thousands of years.

She was not able to get far in her process of chipping for the next moment the entire cave quaked as two titans came from around a corner and emerged in a tussle. They were not alone for Astraea was barely able to process the large cavern filling with the giant robotic titan within seconds.

They were all fighting, blaster shots firing every which direction as they attempted to tear each other apart piece by piece.

She screamed, barely able to scramble the substance into her backpack before desperately running toward the entrance that she came in from. As curious as she was about these metal beings, considering the fight they were in and how small she was compared to them, it would not be wise to ask questions.

Not when to them—stepping on her would be like stepping on an ant. Not when they had blastors the size of human missile launchers that could incinerate her in milliseconds. And certainly not when she had no clue if they were friendly or not.

If they were fighting each other there was no doubt that they would attack her.

Astraea ran with her hands above her head, her heart beating frantically as adrenaline coursed through her being. She was coming to the horrible conclusion that today she had wandered into the wrong cave.

She was nearly out of the large cavern filled with crystals when a shot (that thankfully missed Bumblebee) hit feet behind where she was running. Astraea was launched into the air, the girl crying out as she went flying to the side, landing on her back harshly.

The wind was knocked out of her as she landed harshly—immense pain flaring in her right shoulder. She knew almost instantly that her shoulder was broken from the impact. She was unable to catch her breath as she gasped, rolling to the side with a face scrunched in pain.

Sparks ignored nearly every brutal blow to the metal titans. Pieces of metal were flying everywhere—one piece even skimming past Astraea and slicing the arm that covered her face. She whimpered as it drew blood, red gushing to the surface.

Looking up, she realized that she was in the middle of the brawl. No one had noticed her seeing as she was exceptionally smaller than these metal robotic beings and they were all otherwise engaged. She was a mere speck amidst the towering giants locked in combat.

A smaller feminine-looking robot leaped in the air with a war cry, ripping off the head of a purple robot that was larger than her. It was quite impressive seeing as, despite her smaller size, she was more than capable of taking on the larger robots.

A rotund green robot that looked as though he was built for the tasks took his wrecking ball arm and hurled it as the head of an equally as large blue robot. The blue robot cried out as he was brought to the ground by the force.

A bright cherry-red robot suddenly went flying over her, landing on one of the cave walls feet away with a loud sound of pain. It took a moment before Astraea realized that the robot had quite literally been thrown from the other side of the cavern by the biggest being of the bunch.

The largest robot was red and blue—standing nearly thirty feet tall. He towered over most of the other robots in the cavern with a much stronger build. He appeared to be built as a warrior with a silver mask drawn over the lower portion of his metal face and glowing blue robotic eyes.

The same blue that the crystals around glowed.

It was safe to say that Astraea was utterly terrified.

His aim was precise, the end of both of his arms firing shots every second—and nearly every blast hit its target.

Astraea was petrified, struggling to stand up and breathing harshly. Her head hurt, and she recognized the signs of a bad concussion, she had one once when she fell from rock climbing. But this one felt so much worse than that one had.

Unfortunately for Astraea, as she stumbled to her feet her eyes locked with the cherry red robot who had been thrown into the cavern wall feet away from her. His gleaming red optics met her own—widening in recognition for a fraction of a second before his metallic lips twisted into something unsettling.

She realized that it was a smirk, one that was anything but kind.

"Aren't you a familiar little fleshy?" Knock Out all but purred as he stood up and was towering over her within seconds.

Astraea stared up at him from her hands and knees in a horrified manner. Her small body (small in comparison to the titans) was dirtied and she trembled in both fear and pain. She, of course, had no clue that an alternate version of herself had appeared in a Decepticon energon via a portal just a week prior and managed to get away.

She had no clue that she was now on the Decepticon's radar for having a speed that was similar to how fast red Energon could make a Cybertronian.

Truthfully, Knock Out had no clue that the human before him was a different version of the one he had seen last week. He had no clue that the one who appeared last week was from a parallel dimension.

He had no clue that the one before him was not her.

That pain flared as Knock Out reached down, grabbed her by her foot, and picked her up in a way that was anything but gentle.

The Autobots had been around humans for a good amount of time, they knew that they had to be incredibly gentle when dealing with them physically. Most humans were delicate creatures—easily breakable in the giant servos of a Cybertronian.

Of course, the Decepticons did not care about this. So perhaps that is why Knock Out had little to no notice when he all but crushed her ankle and broke her foot upon picking her up, drawing an immense amount of blood as his sharpened servos dug into her flimsy flesh.

Astraea screamed loudly, crying out as this monster picked her up—dangling her upside down many feet above the ground. She did not even want to think about how he no doubt just shattered every bone in her foot and how his claws were so deep in her flesh that she could feel either side touching from within her.

She wanted this nightmare to end. She wanted to wake up and be comfortable in her bed. What did she do to deserve this?

"Oops..." Knock Out sounded anything but regretful as he tilted his head at the little screaming human.

She was wiggling in his grasp, desperately fighting to free herself. It made him wonder why she was not running circles around him as she did just last week.

Her screams had certainly caught the attention of the vicinity—Optimus Primes, along with the rest of his team nearly malfunctioned at the sight of the human in Knock Out's grasp. Under the watchful command of the last Prime, the Autobots had all done a fair job at protecting humanity thus far.

No humans, to their knowledge, had been killed by the hands of Decepticons. Or at least, not innocent human civilians who seemed to go merrily along with their sweet little lives.

But for them to see this woman screaming—her delicate frame bashed. To see Knock Out's sharp claws digging into her soft skin: for them to hear the fear in her screams was too much, especially for the Autobots who had gotten even closer to humanity in recent months.

They cared for the children they had taken in.

More than just caretakers, they were friends—family.

It hurt each of their sparks to see this innocent woman in pain and jeopardy.

Optimus darted forward, his blaster raised at Knock Out.

"Knock Out, release her!" The leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, ordered.

His voice was low, he was playing no games. But neither was Knock Out, he chuckled as though there was not a woman's life hanging in the balance.

"Shoot me, Prime! You might wound me, but you won't kill me. But you will kill her..." He teased, waving the human around mercilessly.

Her screams got louder as the pain somehow got worse, her body swaying with his movements. Optimus Prime's optics stared at her in unabashed concern. His face mask was still drawn leaving the lower half of his face invisible—but anyone in a mile radius could see the concern in his optics. Not to mention his anxiety over this innocent human's life was wafting off him in waves.

Astraea was beginning to lose her mind to the pain. And from how she was hanging upside down, with not only the loss of blood but also with it rushing to her head, her vision was blurring.

But she heard his low voice commanding for her release, and perhaps that was what compelled her to yell out to him. Knowing that he was her only chance of surviving—the big robot of red and blue.

"Please, I don't want to die yet—I'm not ready, please help me!" She begged for her life. "Please let me go, I'm so sorry, I won't say anything, I promise! Just please let me go..."

Knock Out paused, staring down at her almost with remorse. This was always the hardest part of the war. Even if the other Decepticons did not think much of the human race, Knock Out had to admit they were spunky little creatures with an impressive culture.

He did not necessarily want to kill this human, and he did not intend on it. He intended to use her as a hostage and then he would run off with her. He was the Decepticon scientist, after all, he had to see what made her tick. What made her faster than anything possible?

But then again, Knock Out was having his doubts about her.

She had not run this time around, and she seemed much weaker than he remembered her being when he first encountered her the previous week. Perhaps he had gotten her mixed up with another fleshy? They all looked the same to him anyway.

"Optimus, we have to do something..." Arcee all but begged, looking to her leader who, for the first time in a long while, looked just as lost as the rest of his team.

This had never happened before. Decepticons never showed enough interest in humans (other than their human allies) to hold them hostage like this. And there had never been a human near enough to their battles on Earth that they were ever at risk like this—Optimus had sworn he would not allow harm to befall humanity.

Something he had been mostly successful with until now.

But he knew that Knock Out was right, any attempt to hit him with a blast or take the human from him would result in her being hurt further. Most likely even dying with the state that she was already in.

Bargaining was his only option.

"Release the human, Knock Out..." Optimus finally spoke, his voice did not waver in the slightest.

Knock Out opened his mouth to respond, but a familiar sly tone cut him off. Starscream made his grand presence, wandering to Knock Out's side with a twisted smile as he took in the flailing human.

"Or what Optimus Prime?" He goaded the leader. "You have nothing worth this human's life, except perhaps..." Starscream placed a digit under his chin in mock thought. "Well..." He started as though he was the most merciful being on the planet. "I may be willing to consider sparing this pest's life if you would bow before me..."

Knock Out stared at Starscream with all the judgment in the galaxy, but that was not noticed by Starscream as he smirked at Optimus Prime. The human had calmed down but not from anything good; she calmed down because the blood loss and exhaustion were gaining on her.

The pain had become so bad that she could no longer feel the foot that was being held by Knock Out. In fact, she could barely feel the entire lower half of her body.

There was a coldness creeping up on her—the sweet relief of death was near her.

Megatron was not dead, but he was in a comatose state with (as Starscream kept trying to convince everyone) little to no chance of ever waking up. Starscream was appointed as leader of the Decepticons for as long as his master might be in such a state. And if Starscream had anything to say about it, Megatron would remain in his comatose state (if not die) for as long as possible.

And Starscream decided that as the leader of the Decepticons, he wanted to do everything correctly. Achieve everything that Megatron was never able to.

AKA—to have Optimus Prime bow before him would be a win in itself. For the simple fact that Optimus Prime would only ever bow before two beings: Primus and Alpha Trion.

Optimus himself stared at Starscream in disbelief, as did the rest of the Autobots. He was not necessarily surprised by Starscream's request seeing as Starscream had already tried to have Prime do it once—when he woke Skyquake—and Starscream's pride was anything but small.

For obvious reasons, Optimus would typically refuse to ever do such a thing. As humble as Optimus is, he is still a Prime. And beyond being the leader of the Autobots, a Prime bows to no one but Primus.

Bulkhead was the one to speak up, looking to Optimus. "You can't bow to Screamy!" He spoke in an offended manner: personally offended that Starscream would request such an outlandish thing.

Arcee and Bumblebee agreed.

However, before Optimus could hope to respond to Starscream or the other Autobots—Starscream did it for him.

Starscream was tired of having no respect from anyone: Decepticon or Autobot. No one seemed to think him deserving nor capable of leading the Decepticons. It was something that he was tired of, and he did not quite understand that respect is something to be earned not issued.

"Do you really want to measure your pride against my patience, Optimus? Get on your knees or I will kill her right now!" Starscream roared reaching out his sharpened digit as though to slice her throat.

However, his digit was so sharp and big compared to her that he would no doubt end up cutting her entire head right off her body.

"No! Do not touch her!" Optimus exclaimed, reaching out to stop him but not moving in fear that either he or Knock Out would kill her.

All it took was one slip, one move from them and her life would be gone.

Starscream whirled around, the digit previously posed at Astraea's throat now pointed accusingly at Optimus.

"Then kneel!" He shrieked.

Optimus closed his optics, venting harshly as he swallowed any of his pride that wanted to fight this. There was no other way for him to even hope to ensure this human's safety. He was more than concerned at this point seeing as she appeared to be on the verge of passing out.

Her previous pleas still rang in his processor.

He had to try his best, he could not allow any more harm to befall on such an innocent soul.

With that, he looked to the ground and slowly fell to his knees.

"Optimus...!" Arcee started.

Optimus stopped her. "I will not endanger her life even more, Arcee, this is the only way..." He said to her sternly, ignoring the way that not only Bulkhead and Bumblebee gaped, but the fact that even Knock Out was gaping from where he was holding the human upside down.

Starscream was shocked for less than a second before his metallic lips quirked into a twisted smile. He could not believe that Prime would actually bow for such a pointless and weak little creature.

The prime kneeled before him, his helm bowed in respect—though there was no respect in Optimus's spark for the cunning and treacherous Decepticon.

Starscream started to laugh—he had achieved the one that Megatron had never been able to. Optimus Prime was bowing before him, on his knee with his helm tilted downward

Arcee watched with pure anger streaming through her, her optics along with the Autobots darting between Optimus and the 'Cons. She could not believe what she was seeing.

A long few seconds passed, everyone remaining quiet apart from the labored breathing of the human and Starscream's maniacal laughter. Bulkhead and Bumblebee stared in anticipation, waiting to see what would happen next.

Arcee was the one to break the silence—her blasters pointed straight at Starscream.

"That is enough—Optimus has done what you requested, now release the human!" She demanded, prepared to fire at Starscream if he did not comply within the next few seconds.

Starscream let out a noise of irritation.

"Starscream..." Optimus finally said, standing up to his full height that towered over all the present Cybertronians. "Release her now..." He said coldly to Starscream who took a cautious step backward.

Starscream scoffed, face darkening as he made a rash decision. He had been intending to bring this human back to the ship so Knock Out could conduct experiments on her. To find out what made her so fast based on the speed displayed last week.

However, Starscream was not certain this was the same human. While they indeed did look very similar, it was hard for Starscream to tell most humans apart. But the one in Knock Out's grasp had longer hair and she was not as bone-skinny as the one who appeared in the Energon deposit last week was.

Even if this was the same human, Starscream wanted to hurt Optimus Prime more than he cared to experiment on a pest. And what was a better way to hurt Optimus than to kill one of the little creatures that he loved so much?

"Very well..." Starscream sighed, holding out his sharp servo to Knock Out.

Knock Out placed the human in Starscream's open palm, his digits finally releasing themselves from her ankle. Blood immediately started rushing out of the large open wound at an alarming rate. Knock Out stared at his digits in disgust at the human blood that stained it.

Astraea groaned as she felt herself get moved, but she was now numb and the blood loss was starting to mess with her mind.

The Autobots watched horrified—they all knew that if they did not get her help soon then she would perish.

Optimus Prime was becoming impatient with Starscream moving slowly. He knew that the Decepticon commander was only doing it to get a rise out of him. He did his best to keep his face plates blank so as to not egg Starscream on.

"Hand her here..." Optimus said firmly, his arms shifting from his blastors back to servos.

He gently held out both his servos in a cupped manner, prepared to take the human and treat her as gently as possible. Especially in her current state.

"How about I hand her—" Starscream started and lazily threw the human to the side of him with a loud cackle. "—Over there?!"

Knock Out gasped as even he was not expecting that sudden act of brutality from Starscream. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee watched with huge optics as the injured human went flying toward the wall of a cavern.

Optimus Prime moved faster than even he thought himself capable, placing himself between the cavern and where the human had been launched. He managed to catch her as gently as possible before she could hit either the wall or the ground, holding her near his chassis as he kneeled to the ground.

Starscream wasted no time, not wanting to face the wrath of Optimus Prime, transformed and soared past the Autobots out of the cave exit. Knock Out did much the same, transforming and putting the pedal to the metal to get out of there before any of the Autobots could catch him.

But that was not any of their concern at the moment: the team quickly surrounded the kneeling form of Optimus who opened his servos and revealed the barely breathing human. Even though he had managed to catch her gently, it was still a hard blow for the injured state that she was in.

"Ratchet..." Optimus tried to comm back to base. "Optimus to base, Optimus to base..." His voice went from controlled to slightly desperate, but the Energon and the depth of the caves were affecting his ability to connect to the base.

"I'll drive to the entrance and comm Ratchet!" Arcee spoke quickly, transforming and racing off as fast as she could.

But somehow, all of them knew that there was not enough time to save this woman's fading life. No matter how fast Arcee could get ahold of Ratchet—there was no way that he would have enough time to save her by the time they managed to bridge back to base. Not to mention he might not even know what to do seeing as he only knew enough to heal the children of minor injuries.

Optimus watched her go, his servos still gently cupped around the human female in his grasp.

"Are you named Optimus 'cause you're an optimum friend?"

It was a soft but rough voice, as though it hurt to speak. Optimus along with the two others by his side turned their attention to the human faster than the speed of light. The Prime was slightly surprised to see that she was staring at him with wide brown eyes of curiosity.

An emotion other than sadness was barely present on his face, but he looked almost touched that was her first assumption about his name.

"No," he admitted, voice quiet to not startle her in what he sensed were her final moments in this world. "I was named such due to my apparent optimism..."

His deep voice reminded her of honey, it caused a warmth to spread in lue of the cold taking over her body.

"I have so many questions..." She breathed, continuing to stare at Optimus in wonder.

His blue eyes glowed as he overlooked her, his thumb rubbing calmly on the side of her body that was not broken.

Bumblebee let out a whirlwind of sad beeps before he was forced to walk to the other side of the cavern. He could not handle this death: it was too much for his poor spark that was on the verge of breaking. Lubricant was pooling in his optics.

Bulkhead was in a similar state, letting out a noise that resembled a sob before following behind Bee. He could not witness the death of an innocent human civilian.

While had had always understood their mission to protect humanity, bearing witness to this devastation only made both Bulkhead and Bumblebee more determined to the cause. They never wanted anything like this to happen again.

"Ask as many questions as you wish, I will answer them all..." Optimus said calmly, providing as much comfort as he could to the seemingly peaceful little creature in his hands.

Even as stoic and battle-hardened as Optimus Prime was, a true master at keeping his emotions in check, this truly hurt him. It caused sorrow to take hold deep within his spark, and it was hard to not allow that to be heard in his voice.

He could shed lubricant later in the privacy of his berthroom, and he could scream his anger to the heavens of the Nevada desert if he wished. But right now, he had to be strong.

"Well, Optimus Prime, I'm Astraea..." She introduced herself with a wheeze, her breath becoming harsher.

"The pleasure is mine, Astraea," he brought a digit to her cheek and softly traced it.

Astraea leaned into the touch with a content sigh, her eyes closing. It was much harder than she liked to open again, a struggle to stay conscious as death knocked at her door.

When she opened her eyes again, a cold sweat had broken out as ice swept her body. She could feel her heart pounding as more adrenaline coursed through her. Astraea started to shift, panicking just the slightest.

Optimus cupped the servo that held her even more in response.

"Opt-Optimus..." She was gasping for breath, there was not enough air left. "Please, please, I'm not ready to go... please..."

For as many lives that had been lost in the length of the war, this part never went easy. And Optimus never knew what to do the handful of times that someone had died in his arms. Never knew what to do except hold them tighter and provide as much warmth and comfort as he could.

"Astraea," he rumbled sadly, "It's going to be okay..." It was not his intention to spread a falsehood to her, but he did not know what else to say. "It'll be warm, there will be no more pain, and you won't ever feel scared again..." He was whispering now, his deep voice smooth.

Astraea managed to grab onto his thumb, holding it close to her in comfort. Optimus slowly brought her toward his spark, cradling her to his chassis with his helm tilted downward as to keep eye contact.

He wanted her to know that she was not alone. That he was right here with her.

"Maybe we'll meet again one day..." She was able to get out.

"Indeed," Optimus agreed.

"And it was said that He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away..."  Astraea spoke quietly, as though the bible was right in front of her. "Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." She was raised as a Christian, and while she had not been very devoted to the Church in her recent years, in this moment of passing she wanted nothing more than to be taken in the Lord's arms.

Optimus clutched her tighter, feeling her body weaken even more in his grasp.

"Optimus... Optimus..." Astraea wheezed. "You have to tell my family, please tell them how much I love them—tell my mom I'm sorry, please... please, Optimus, you have to..." She was spending too much energy pleading with him.

Optimus quickly agreed, not wanting her to continue to spend any more energy than necessary. He was praying to Primus for a miracle, that just maybe Arcee would reach the entrance to the cave in time and Astraea's life could be spared.

He had never hated both Starscream and Knock Out more than at this moment in time.

"Shh, I will tell them, Astraea... I will tell them, don't waste your energy..." He murmured.

But Astraea continued.

"I want to be laid next to my brother, I want to be laid next to Atticus under the old willow tree... please Optimus, make sure they return me to the Earth, to lay in peace next to my brother..." She was gasping for air, her eyes going wide as she felt death begin to finally consume her whole.

Optimus was staring at her with sorrow, nodding his helm repeatedly.

Astraea had a twin brother, but he died hours after his birth. He was named Atticus, and he was buried under the old willow tree at a cemetery near their home. This version of Astraea never grew up with her deceased twin.

"I will, Astrea, I will..." Optimus was near shedding lubricant, and it was beginning to show in his voice.

"Optimus..." Astraea was barely able to get out, her breath coming out in desperate wheezes before finally stopping altogether.

Her eyes remained open, but lost focus and became unseeing. Her body, once weak and wound tightly, relaxed in Optimus's hold. The previous grip she had on his thumb fell away.

"Rest now, Astraea..." The Autobot leader said, his deep voice cracking with despair as he held her tightly, closing his optics and tilting his helm downward.

She did not need to die, but her life was lost on this day because of this war. A war that should not have ever involved her let alone be the cause of her untimely demise. The guilt that Optimus faced as he blamed himself for her death was devastating.

Moments later, a ground bridge opened up and Ratchet raced out with Fowler hot on his heels.

Ratchet and Fowler both paused at the sight they were met with. Bumblebee's whirring weeps as Bulkhead tries to comfort him, and Optimus Prime kneels with his head bowed and servos curled around something unseen.

Looking up at their arrival, Optimus slowly held out Astraea in his servo to show both Ratchet and Agent Fowlet what had happened.

"By the All-Spark..." Ratchet breathed, his voice tinged with despair for the poor human.

"Oh hell, Prime..." Fowler shook his head at the lost life. "What happened?"

➘➚➘➚➘➚➘➚

Astraea was buried next to her twin brother under the willow tree in her hometown. Many people showed up to her service: friends and family. The Autobots were there too, but they had to remain hidden in their alt modes and parked along with sidewalk.

The human children had wanted to attend, but it would lead to too many questions about how they had known her. Truthfully, they had not even seen the woman considering they were at school when this all went down.

As much as Optimus wanted to honor Astraea's last wish of him telling her family that she loved them, Agent Fowler could not allow it. There was no way for Optimus to approach the civilian family safely without revealing himself and potentially putting a target on their back.

Fowler had to make up a story about Astraea falling from a great height on an excavation job and dying upon impact. He even had to tamper with the autopsy report. Her family would never know the truth about her death.

And that haunted Optimus—he saw her face staring at him every night when he recharged. He heard her voice whispering in his ear. Sometimes it was sweet words, but other times it was vengeful words blaming him for her death.

She told him how she would never be able to forgive him. But it did not matter if she forgave him or not because he would never be able to forgive himself.

Arcee also blamed herself, she thought that had she not goaded Starscream then he would not have tossed Astraea as he did. But they all knew the truth, it mattered not whether Starscream had chosen to throw her.

According to the autopsy report—the thing that had really killed her had been internal bleeding and blood loss from her leg. The only way she could survived would have been if the Autobots rushed her to the ER the second she made impact with the ground the first time. But no one other than Knock Out had noticed her when that happened.

Nevertheless, Optimus still visited her grave on occasion. It was typically in the middle of the night when no one was around to notice a nearly thirty-foot-tall alien robot kneeling at the grave.

He learned from Agent Fowler, that according to her family, Astraea had loved daffodils. So Optimus tried to leave a bouquet of daffodils every time he visited. The human children were always more than happy to help him acquire such flowers.

He had learned as much about Astraea as he could after her death. But seeing as he did not know anyone who had known her personally, he was only able to get information that Fowler passed along from her family and simple things that had been posted on her social media.

Again, the children helped him in finding the latter.

While Jack, Miko, and Rafael had been prohibited from going with the Autobots on most missions before, Team Prime was now even stricter with it. They refused to chance that happening to the children.

The death of Astraea Maxxine Mayweather reminded all the Autobots of who they were protecting. While Astraea may be gone, if Optimus Prime had anything to say about it, he would do everything in his power to never allow anything like that to happen again.